Between August 2004 and February 2005, I Am The Mighty Jungulator designed and delivered a series of generative community portraits in partnership with Watershed Media Centre, supported by Connexions West of England's PAYP scheme. (positive activities for young people).

Here you can read Watershed's evaluation report written by Ruth Jenkins. The report examines the aims and objectives of the programme, the creative processes of the workshops, and the outcomes for the young people and the artists involved, and also looks at issues of sustainability and future directions.

read an article about this work on the Axis Artists Database, which explains the context and the process.

watch the GCP movie explaining how generative community portraits are made (6 mins). 

Knowle West, Bristol, The Park, August 2004

The first portrait was made with a group of young people between the ages of 9 & 14. The duration of each workshop was three days, and our concepts and methods were refined over the course of the program, For example, when the portrait was screened for parents and community members at the end of the first workshop, it was clear that the generative systems' we'd developed at that time (which displayed four movies mixed onto one screen), could be improved for ease of communication and understanding. The generative systems display was redesigned for the next workshop to allow the fluid presentation of media across three movie players.

watch the movie 'You Knowles It', from this workshop...

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Lawrence Weston, Bristol, The Juicy Blitz Juice Bar, October 2004

We worked with young people whose average age was 13, and were based right in the centre of the community at the Juicy Blitz Juice Bar managed by the young people and Bread Youth Project. This was the most succesful demonstration of the value of generative potrait concept (GCP) - an ever evolving portrait of the community through the eyes of it's young people. Humanity, charm and warmth were much in evidence as 9 year olds interviewed 90 years olds in the main shopping street about the quality of life in Lawrence Weston. It's a dynamic activity which allows a great deal to be achieved in a short time, enabling informal acquisition of a broad range of audio-visual skills, and exposure to exciting new technologies and modes of thinking.

The GCP movie contains media generated during the workshops in Knowle West and Lawrence Weston. Watch it below...

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Southmead Sound School, Bristol, Febrary 2005

The final GCP was made with teenagers at the Sound School facilitated by Simon Preston, and focused on skateboarding and music (the groups two most popular activites). IATMJ's live sample-processing technologies were used to create a blissful acid-rock soundtrack for a Busby Berkely inspired routine involving multiple guitarists and skateboarders.

watch this movie here...

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see the article above from the Axis Artists database for more information about methods used in this workshop.