Oneika Russell

Local and personal stories hold wisdom, history, and sensory information that pull me in. The globalised, pop & tourism-focused culture in my local environment of Jamaica often ignores and makes invisible these piled up, wasted and hidden repositories of truths. This culture places people into these archetypal roles where we often know that there is a surface self and more intimate self. Though my work has often looked at these surface-level archetypes and stereotypes, I am increasingly more engaged in making a subjective record of people and their circumstances and experiences as I connect with them on their personal journey. 

Through social engagements with Personal Storytelling Workshop and the resulting drawn, moving image sequences there is this incredible opportunity to place myself, the artist, in this invented but highly valued role as their personal storyteller. In the work of these mini-animated films, I am building a document cumulatively over time with the intention to help the tellers find visibility and validation of their hopes and dreams. The collective of stories will only ever be able to engage the narrative of a person in a moment in small numbers as I work by hand in involved but economic means of achieving a moving image.