Artists & Communities Host Site: Out North Contemporary Art House
1325 Primrose
Anchorage, AK 99508
E-mail: email@outnorth.org
Web site: http://www.outnorth.org

Millennium Artist:
Jocelyn Taylor
Videographer and Installation Artist
Alaska
E-mail: jocelyntaylor@hotmail.com

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Throughout the year 2000, Artists & Communities has generated an unprecedented cross-fertilization of ideas and skills across the United States. This exciting exchange has risen from artists and local residents with widely divergent backgrounds and experiences living and working together for extended periods. One project has at least physically illustrated this mutual exchange more than any other: the Artists & Communities residency of videographer Jocelyn Taylor with Alaska's Out North Contemporary Art House.

Taylor, coming from the U.S.'s most densely urbanized center - New York City - lived and worked in what is termed America's 'last frontier' for four months this past summer. Drawing on over 10 years experience in community and media arts, Taylor's residency focused on teaching video and media literacy utilizing Out North's state-of-the-art digital editing studio. A longtime activist around issues of identity and body image, she sought to include participation by a disenfranchised community of young people - in the group of 14 teenagers involved in residency activities.

The project team first learned the technical skills associated with video production - story boarding, production planning, operating the camera, film and sound editing. They then went on to create a series of short videos about aspects of their lives and their families. Taylor's original intent was to generate experimental video exploring the importance of family networks as the starting point for the teens' perception of themselves and their concept of the ideas of responsibility and freedom.

The resultant works capture a very broad vision of life in contemporary Alaska. Some developed from the teens interviewing family members, while others document the personal environments they have fashioned for themselves within the family home. Together, the video presents a youthful perspective of how culture, values, and family will shape themselves in the new century.

The "Youth Millennium Video" was premiered early in October 2000 as part of Out North Contemporary Art House's National Arts & Humanities Month activities, as well as on television in Anchorage, and in New York as part of a monthly showcase of work by teen videomakers. Taylor is now investigating the possibility of its being screened at film and video festivals throughout the country.

As a final note to the 'cultural exchange' exemplified by this project, Taylor has elected to stay on as a resident of Anchorage and is planning a media arts project for next summer involving incarcerated youth.

MILLENNIUM ARTIST BIO

Jocelyn Taylor is a videographer, media performer, instructor, curator, activist, and producer who has created video installations for the Art Center South Florida, Art Museum at the University of Milwaukee, the Johannesburg Biennial 1997, and the Museo de Belles Autes in Caracas, Venezuela.