Kevin Jerome Everson: School Is Not in Session, interview with Jarrett Gregory, Mousse 59 (2016)

Kevin Jerome Everson’s film practice brings together archival, documentary, scripted footage and “choreographed” depictions of reality—often focusing on labor-work or the ordinary activities of everyday life—and in the process challenges geographic, class, and racial stereotypes.

JARRETT GREGORY: You work in many different mediums. How did you start working with film in particular?

KEVIN JEROME EVERSON: I’ve always done it. As an undergrad I made some crazy films, and in grad school I was mostly documenting performances. Then when I was four or five years out of school I was part of the 1994 Black Male show at the Whitney. At the time, I was making work about art objects that are presented in African American homes, and the objects that in turn present them. So for example end tables—you put framed photographs on end tables. But when I described that work, I kept talking about how people would work five days a week, get paid on Friday, go to Bing’s furniture, pick out an end table, bring it home. I was always describing time-based stuff instead of the objects themselves, so I started making films around that.

Full text here.