ARTIST JAMIE DIAMOND
A Conversation with Interdisciplinary Artist, Jamie Diamond
For this post, I am excited to present not only an extraordinary artist, with an insane curriculum, she also happens to be a wonderful and dear friend, Jamie Diamond. I could copy her website bio and impress you all, but I want to present her as the caring, grounded, always smiling, super considerate, hard working, worldly, Brooklyn based, rock star mom, wife, artist, and good friend, that she is. Her work is grounded in photography, questioning notions of identity, intimacy, and reality. Her interests include the dialogue surrounding the truth. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions all over the world. Since 2009, Diamond has been lecturing in photography at the University of Pennsylvania and is currently the Undergraduate Photography Coordinator of UPenn’s Fine Art Department. I reconnected with Jamie last year, while she was in L.A. during a production for a short film we talk about later in this interview.
Jamie you’ve done so much tell us some of your personal career highlights so far, and why you got into art in the first place.
NYFA Award in Photography
Cinematographer/ Producer of the film, A Minor Variation
Senior Lecturer of Photography at the University of Pennsylvania
Art is the lens in which I experience and understand the world around me. I began oil painting at seven but it wasn’t until my early twenties that I seriously started making art.
Most interesting response you've heard about your work so far?
When I had my first solo exhibition in New York with Moeller Snow Gallery which sadly is no longer around, I exhibited for the first time my Constructed Family Portraits, a series in which I created artificial families of strangers for the camera. I remember when the work was being reviewed, many people assumed I was a 40 year old man and wrote as such about me in the wrong pronoun and even created false narratives about me and my own family history.
Greatest inspirations or influences?
Filmaker: Pedro Almodovar
Artist: Sophie Calle
Architect: Tadao Ando
Tell us about your jump into film, what was that like, do you see film as an extension in your development as an artist?
When my son was three months old, a very close friend approached me and asked if I would be the Director of Photography for his upcoming short film. Initially I said no, I was already overwhelmed with my professional art and teaching career and now the new role of being a mother seemed almost impossible. However, after some persuasion, I agreed and I’m very grateful that I did. I don’t see filmmaking as an extension of my practice, they of-course intimately relate but I personally see them as two disparate things.
Most interesting lesson you learned during production.
Since this was my first experience working on set there were a few things I wasn’t prepared for like the film jargon and technical vernacular for instance. While I consider myself proficient technically and formally and a had a very clear vision for what I wanted visually, I found it difficult at times to communicate and direct my crew.
Can you tell us what your working on next?
On the film front, I am in the process of co-writing and co-directing a feature film. For my visual art practice, I recently started a new body of work on platonic intimacy.
How is the art world changing?
The art world is always changing which is both exciting and scary. Anyone can take pictures and make beautiful images however not everyone can make art there is definitely a distinction.
Your favourite websites or social media handles?
At the moment, I am really enjoying Cindy Sherman’s social media handle.
