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Draft:Jjjjjerome Ellis

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  • Comment: A very interesting article! Some feedback in regards to getting it published: Citations for birth years are very important. In the third paragraph, are all the statements from the citation at the end of the paragraph? If so, that should be made clear by giving all the statements that citation. -- NotCharizard 🗨 02:52, 2 May 2024 (UTC)

JJJJJerome Ellis (born 1989[1]) is an American multi-instrumentalist, writer, composer, and disability advocate.

Early life and education[edit]

Ellis was born in 1989 in Connecticut to Jamaican and Grenadian parents.[2] He was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and studied music theory at Columbia University.[3][4]

Career[edit]

Ellis received a Fulbright fellowship in 2015 to study samba in Salvador, Brazil,[5] and is a two-time MacDowell Fellow.[6] In 2022, he received the United States Artists Fellowship[7] as well as a Creative Capital award.[8] He has taught at Yale University as a lecturer in Sound Design.[1]

Artistic practice and influences[edit]

Ellis spells his first name with five J's as a way of honoring the fact that he often stutters the most on his name.[9] His work spans photography, poetry, and music, exploring themes of divinity, time, and the politics of Black dysfluency. He references Black liturgical traditions and improvisational practices, influenced by his grandfather, a Pentecostal minister. He also cites Saidiya Hartman, M. NourbeSe Philip, and Christina Sharpe as influences.[citation needed]

Publications and works[edit]

Ellis's debut album and songbook, The Clearing, originated from his essay "The clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness, and time," published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies in 2020.[10] His second book, Aster of Ceremonies, published by Milkweed Editions in October 2023, is a collection of poems, prayers, and essays addressing "escaped slave advertisements" and stuttering. Specifically, the work deals with advertisements referencing enslaved people who were said to have spoken with a stutter.[11] His second studio album, Compline in Nine Movements, is an improvisational piano album.[12]

Advocacy[edit]

Ellis is active in the stuttering pride community, which repositions stuttering as a valuable way of speaking. He was part of the team that developed the stuttering pride flag[13] and founded People Who Stutter Create to design the billboard for the 2024 Whitney Biennial.[14]

Personal life[edit]

His wife is ecologist and poet Luísa Black Ellis.[15][16] They live in Norfolk, Virginia.[16][17]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "About". JJJJJerome Ellis. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  2. ^ "Louis C. Elson Lecture: JJJJJerome Ellis – Harvard University Department of Music". music.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  3. ^ "Jjjj Jerome Ellis". Yale School of Art. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  4. ^ Morris, Kadish (2021-11-10). "Artist and stutterer JJJJJerome Ellis: 'So much pain comes from not feeling fully human'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  5. ^ "Nine Columbia affiliates awarded 2014-15 Fulbright U.S. Student grants". Columbia College. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  6. ^ "JJJJJerome Ellis - MacDowell Fellow in Interdisciplinary Arts".
  7. ^ Martin, Saleen (2022-01-26). "Norfolk artist who explores stuttering, Blackness and history awarded $50,000 grant and fellowship". The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  8. ^ "Congratulations to Creative Capital Awardees in the 2024 Whitney Biennial!". Creative Capital. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  9. ^ Nast, Condé. "JJJJJerome Ellis: The Clearing". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  10. ^ Ellis, JJJJJerome (2020-12-01). "The clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness and time". Journal of Interdisciplinary Voice Studies. 5 (2): 215–233. doi:10.1386/jivs_00026_1. ISSN 2057-0341.
  11. ^ Koenig, Andrew. "Aster of Ceremonies". Harvard Review. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  12. ^ "Carve Out a Little Emptiness Or, JJJJJerome Ellis Enters Through Another Door, Opens It, and Rearranges the Furniture". www.nationalsawdust.org. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  13. ^ "Stuttering Pride Flag". Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  14. ^ "People Who Stutter Create: Stuttering Can Create Time". whitney.org. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
  15. ^ "Our Team". Elizabeth River Project. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  16. ^ a b Foundation, Poetry (2024-06-09). "JJJJJerome Ellis". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  17. ^ "JJJJJerome Ellis". University of Chicago Press. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
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