James Spooner

James Spooner
Notable work Afro-Punk (film)


James Spooner is an American tattoo artist from New York, living in Los Angeles. He is best known for his seminal documentary film Afro-Punk (2003), exploring the African American experience in the punk music scene.[1] After its release, he founded the annual Afropunk Festival in Brooklyn, New York, working with it from 2005 through 2008, and subsequently parting due to philosophical differences with its direction.[2]

Spooner also wrote and directed White Lies Black Sheep (2007), a fictional feature set within the punk world that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Early life

Spooner grew up in the deserts of California, Panama, and the urban sprawl of New York City. He trained as a sculptor and later went on to do film. Though bi-racial, Spooner identifies as black. After visiting his family in St. Lucia in his twenties, Spooner began to explore his identity which later inspired his film career.

During early adulthood, Spooner was part of the predominantly Eurocentric punk scene. He grew increasingly fascinated by the absence of dialogue around race among his friends in the scene, and the minority of black artists receiving coverage: Mick Collins, Fishbone, Vaginal Davis, and Bad Brains to name a few. Spooner considered punk rock as an offshoot of rock and roll due to the pioneering work of black innovators like Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Jimi Hendrix, so he began to navigate why there were so few people of color represented in the alternative music scene. He also did not identify with mainstream media's representations of "blackness" and became interested in broadening the spectrum.

Film career

Spooner's documentary film explores race identity and the black experience in the alternative punk scene, then overwhelmingly white. Spooner's investigation into the untold stories of the black punk experience via film lead to the emergence of the Afropunk Festival, [3] and gave a voice to alternative black youth who felt they did not fit into traditional and stereotypical notions of black identity. [4]

AfroPunk traces the experiences of a variety of black punks throughout the United States. In the DIY tradition, Spooner toured the film across the country like a band, showing it in as many venues, college campuses, and festivals as possible. He amassed a devoted cult following, largely among minority punks who were active on a message board within his website afropunk.com. Through continued collective interest and participation from the film's followers, the film was a catalyst for a cultural black movement that lead to the AfroPunk Festivals (2005 to present).

Spooner later wrote and directed a feature film entitled White Lies Black Sheep (2007). This is a fictional drama also set in the punk music world. It premiered in 2007 at the Toronto International Film Festival.[5]

Later years

Upon his move to LA, Spooner taught himself to build bikes and began a monthly bike ride entitled "Freedom Ride: Black Kids On Bikes" that rode through predominantly black neighborhoods in Los Angeles.[6] but also made a statement with rides through wealthy white neighborhoods. Spooner is currently a tattoo artist in his private studio, Monocle Tattoo Los Angeles, specializing in vegan friendly tattooing .[7]

References

  1. ↑ How Afropunk Became a Movement, Racked Magazine
  2. ↑ Afropunk No Longer Punk, Vice Magazine
  3. ↑ Afropunk Grown Up, Village Voice
  4. ↑ Gentrifying Afropunk, The New Yorker
  5. ↑ White Lies, Black Sheep, Afrtotoronto.com
  6. ↑ Black Kids on Bikes
  7. ↑ Vegan Tattooing, Organic Life Magazine

External links

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