I started putting the Black Panther Party in my work because it runs through my blood.
Jammie Holmes
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In Fred, Jammie Holmes places childhood memories in the context of the Black liberation struggle.
Jammie’s practice centres the spaces where Black life is lived in the Deep South. Fred offers a window into such a space — a family living room with checkered floors and wood panelled walls. The TV screen is a black and white portrait of Fred Hampton — deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party who was assassinated in 1969 at the age of 21. Above the TV is a photograph from Jammie’s childhood framed with gold leaf, and the handles on its 80s style cabinet are printed in metallic ink. The whole scene is lined with gold glitter, framing the memory as precious.
A rotating sequence of flags form an imposing border around the print. Jammie incorporates (from top left): the 13 Stripes representing the 13th amendment – which abolished slavery, the tricolour Pan-African flag, the African American Flag (1990) by artist David Hammonds, and a flag of Jammie’s own creation. Collectively, they symbolise the past, present and future of Black liberation in the US.
Jammie Holmes1 collaborationGrowing up, Jammie Holmes was his family’s de facto portrait artist. But he saw art as a hobby not a career path for a young black kid from Thibodaux – an “old slave town” still shackled by racism, poverty and violence. When he started making art again in his thirties, Jammie realised that it was precisely his upbringing that set his work apart. Uncle (2019) represents “the essence of this man who was beat up by America.” Jammie captures his hometown in the same light – downtrodden but still defiantly alive. He says, “I try depicting what life is like in Thibodaux so others from my home can recognise themselves in the work.” What emerges are tender vignettes of Black life in the Deep South – baptisms in the river, dominoes in the park, white Nikes on checkered floors, church on every Sunday and for every premature funeral.
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