About Cameron Jamie

Born in the suburbs of Los Angeles in 1969, Cameron Jamie’s drawings, films and performance explore the dark underbelly of the American dream – the way that primal parts of our psyche persistently express themselves, even in the most modern of settings.

Over the past decade Jamie has made a number of films which show social groups performing activities in which dark, violent and pathological urges find expression in different kinds of communal rites and rituals, carnivalesque celebrations and ceremonies.

The black and white film BB explored the phenomenon of backyard wrestling in Los Angeles. Together with two subsequent films commissioned by Artangel, Spook House and Kranky Klaus, the films are normally projected alongside live performance by the west coast noise band The Melvins. Exquisite Mayhem, made with Mike Kelley, was published to acclaim in 2001.

A subsequent film work, JO (2004), documents a French pageant and extreme right-wing rally, both held in honour of Joan of Arc, before concluding at a New York hot dog eating contest – played out entirely in reverse. The music for this film is performed live by the acclaimed Japanese musician Keijo Haino .

Recently his photographic studies, drawings and sculptural objects have been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis in 2006, MIT List Visual Arts Center in Massachusets and Galerie Nathalie Obadia in 2007 and Bernier Eliades in Athens in 2009. Jamie’s films continue to appear internationally, with recent screenings taking place at the 2005 Venice Biennale, The Symphony Space in New York (2006) and as part of a focus on Jamie’s work at the 2007 Rotterdam Film Festival.