00:00So my absolute favorite thing about high feeling is it lets you jump off shit.
00:08You remember when you was little, you just like to jump off shit?
00:11Like, you know, no particular course of action.
00:15Just like, just jumping off shit.
00:19The way I grew up, I always was just really into observation.
00:33Like, I think I'm just naturally an observer.
00:39And becoming a documentarian allowed me to figure out a specific context, you know, to explore
00:47why I'm the way I am, like, in what ways my personality is suited to a particular aspect
00:55of life.
00:56My name is Artemis Jenkins, and I'm a documentarian.
01:00That is what I've most consistently called myself because it was the most available term
01:07to describe what I felt like I was doing.
01:09I decided a while ago, I think 14 years ago, that all of the images that I create would
01:17be documentation of our existence, and that existence would show that we didn't just live
01:23a life of suffering, even though, you know, you would be led to believe otherwise.
01:30I'm a photo albums type of dude.
01:46I really used to like going over to anybody's house and looking at photo albums, videotapes,
01:57once people started doing videotapes.
01:59It was interesting discovering, like, through this book, that my grandmother was high-key
02:04a photographer.
02:05Like, she was, like, documenting our family moments.
02:09Man-spreading.
02:12When I started as a documentarian, the main thing that I wanted to do was just create a
02:19broader narrative for what truly represented who we were and who we are.
02:26Like, I noticed the images, you know, that I learned my own culture through, they weren't
02:33images that anybody within my culture owned.
02:36And it always felt like the world was just studying, like, your mood.
02:41Like, people try to make black people out to be overly paranoid, but I think there's a
02:47reason we inherit paranoia, because, like, everybody literally is watching everything
02:53we do.
02:54So it's like, you know, you would like people to be looking at you for the right reasons.
03:00And I try to communicate, you know, like, that intention, you know, like, before I even
03:04go into the space and just start putting cameras in people's faces and asking them what's
03:09up, what they like.
03:10It's a personal responsibility, because it's your culture.
03:15And, you know, you want to have your own answers for the life you live.
03:22It's a great time to study yourself and learn more about your people and their experiences
03:41and your experiences just through, like, self-study.
03:45And being able to do that with art has been a truly instrumental part in me becoming a fully
03:54developed person.
03:57People need art in their communities.
03:59You know, not just for the general blanket statement of it being an outlet.
04:05Like, it's a conduit into who you are.
04:11And, like, it's just everything, you know.
04:16So, yeah, I mean, art is hella important.
04:18So, yeah.
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