Jim Chuchu

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Jim Chuchu
Born (1982-08-07) 7 August 1982 (age 41)
Nairobi, Kenya
Occupation(s)Director, photographer, singer-songwriter, visual artist, record producer
Years active2006–present
Musical career
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, synthesizer, sequencer, sampler
Websitewww.jimchuchu.com

Jim Chuchu is a Kenyan film director, photographer, singer-songwriter and visual artist. He first came to attention as a member of Kenyan music group Just a Band[1] and subsequently as director of Kenyan LGBT film Stories of Our Lives.[2]

Career

After leaving college in 2006, where he studied telecommunications,[3] Chuchu began his career as a graphic designer, working in advertising. He quit his job to become a freelance graphic designer in late 2006.[4][5]

2006–2012: Early career

In 2008, Chuchu co-founded

Bill "Blinky" Sellanga and Dan Muli, whom he had met while studying at the Kenyatta University.[6] Jim performed multiple duties in the band, including co-producing the band's first three studio albums, Scratch to Reveal, 82 and Sorry for the Delay, creating graphic art for the band and directing many of the band's videos[7] – including "Ha-He" which spawned viral hit Makmende, causing the video to be subsequently described as Kenya's first viral internet meme by the Wall Street Journal, CNN and Fast Company.[8][9]

In 2012, Chuchu co-founded The Nest Collective, a multidisciplinary art space and collective in Nairobi.[10]

In March 2013, Chuchu produced and released Imaginary Chains as pseudonymous act Adeiyu. One of the EP singles – Hollow – was featured in the Mercedes Benz Mixed Tape 55.[11] He followed this EP by releasing the single You Can't Break Her Heart in September 2013.[12]

In October 2013, Just A Band announced that Chuchu had left the band to pursue his solo projects.

Film Festival Locarno and the Seattle International Film Festival in 2014.[16][17][18]

In April 2014, Chuchu's photography series titled Pagans was featured in the 2014 edition of Dak’Art, the 11th Biennale of Contemporary African Art, as part of the Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness exhibition in Dakar, Senegal.[19] The show was cancelled a day after its opening by Senegalese authorities, who ruled that future exhibitions addressing the issue of homosexuality must be closed or canceled.[20][21]

2014: Stories of Our Lives

In September 2014, Chuchu released his first feature film,

Xtra!.[23] The soundtrack to the film, for which Chuchu produced and performed four songs, was released in late September as a free download.[24]

2014: Pagans

Pagans is a photographic series created by Chuchu that seeks to "[reconstruct] future-past anonymous African deities, their devotees and forgotten religious rites."[25] One untitled work from 2014 depicts "a being with lustrous skin and sculpted muscles [who] looks upwards as fire and feathers emerge from his face."[26] To create the pieces, Chuchu took black and white photographs of individuals, drew and painted additional elements on them, then scanned and digitally altered them.[26]

Several photographs from Pagans were displayed at the exhibition "Precarious Imaging: Visibility and Media Surrounding African Queerness" as part of the 11th Dakar Biennial. The exhibition was one of the first on the African continent to focus on homosexuality.[26] The exhibition was shut down prematurely by the Senegalese government after Muslim fundamentalists who oppose homosexuality in Senegal vandalized the exhibition gallery.[26][27]

Filmography

Feature films

Short films

  • 2013: Homecoming
  • 2013: Dinka Translation
  • 2013: Urban Hunter
  • 2020: Tapi!

Web series

Videography

Group exhibitions

Jim's photography and video works have been exhibited in the following group exhibitions:

  • 2014: "Afropean Mimicry and Mockery", Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt.[28]
  • 2014: "Shifting Africa", Mediations Biennale Poznan, Poland.[29]
  • 2014: "Precarious Imaging", Raw Center for Art, Knowledge and Society, Dakar.[30]
  • 2014: "Future Reflexions: Five Positions of Contemporary African Art", Glasgow[31][32]
  • 2011: "Kudishnyao!" (Just A Band), Rush Arts Gallery (New York) and Goethe-Institut Nairobi[33]
  • 2010: "Mwangalio Tofauti: Nine Photographers from Kenya", Nairobi Gallery[34][35]
  • 2009: "TRNSMSSN:" (Just A Band), Goethe-Institut Nairobi[4]
  • 2009: "Amnesia": Nairobi National Museum.
  • 2008: "24: Nairobi – Walkers and Workers", Goethe-Institut, Nairobi.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs and singles

  • 2014: Stories of Our Lives: Music from and Inspired by the Film (EP)[24]
  • 2014 Mayonde – "Isikuti Love" (Single)
  • 2014 Jarel – "The Plus Minus Collection" (EP)
  • 2013: Adeiyu – "You Can't Break Her Heart" (Single)[12]
  • 2013: Various Artists – The NEST Presents: Legacy (Compilation EP)[36]
  • 2013: Adeiyu – Imaginary Chains (EP)[12]

Mixtapes and remix albums

  • 2011: The Just A Band Boxing Day Special
  • 2011: Kudish: The Sound of Soup

Books

  • Iwalewa: Four Views into Contemporary Africa. Iwalewa Haus, Bayreuth (2013).
    ISBN 9783000431159
    .
  • Mwangalio Tofauti" – Nine Photographers from Kenya. Contact Zones NRB, Nairobi (2012).
    ISBN 978-9966-1553-3-7
  • 24: Nairobi. Kwani Trust, Nairobi (2010).
    ISBN 996672950-X
    .

References

  1. ^ Vinograd, Cassandra (24 March 2010). "Kenya Launches Country's First Viral Music Video". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. Indiewire
    , September 5, 2014.
  3. ^ Jim Chuchu Archived 2014-11-16 at archive.today. African Lookbook, November 16, 2014.
  4. ^ a b Interview with Jim Chuchu Archived 2014-11-28 at the Wayback Machine. African Digital Art, November 16, 2014.
  5. ^ Touching Base. MTV Base, November 16, 2014.
  6. ^ Daily Nation, Lifestyle Magazine, 22 November 2008: More than Just a Band
  7. ^ Forget Hollywood & New York. The future of the music video is in Nairobi. Meet Jim Chuchu.. Dangerous Minds, November 15, 2014.
  8. ^ McKenzie, David. "Kenya's Viral Sensation". CNN. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  9. ^ ‘Kichwateli’ & Other Pleasures of the Kenyan Music Video Scene Archived 2014-12-22 at the Wayback Machine. Black Film Center/Archive, November 15, 2014.
  10. ^ An interview with director Jim Chuchu. Goethe-Institut, November 16, 2014.
  11. ^ Mixed Tape #55: Strictly Glorious Archived 2014-11-07 at the Wayback Machine. mb! by Mercedes Benz, November 16, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c Get to Know: Kenyan Fantasy Folk Duo Adeiyu Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. AfriPOP!, November 16, 2014.
  13. ^ An interview with director Jim Chuchu. Goethe-Institut, November 15, 2014.
  14. ^ African Metropolis Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. Durban International Film Festival, November 15, 2014.
  15. Indiewire
    , November 16, 2014.
  16. ^ Homecoming Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. Santa Barbara International Film Festival, November 15, 2014.
  17. ^ African Metropolis: Homecoming. Festival del film Locarno, November 15, 2014.
  18. ^ HomecomingSH-2014 Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. IFFR 2014, November 15, 2014.
  19. ^ Gay art show to go on in Senegal. The Art Newspaper, November 16, 2014.
  20. ^ Forbes, Alexander. "Senegal Censors Homosexual Art". ArtNet News. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  21. ^ Senegalese Government Shuts Down Exhibitions Addressing Queer Issues. Hyperallergic, November 15, 2014.
  22. ^ ‘Stories of Our Lives’ Sheds Light on Kenya’s Gay Community. Variety, September 5, 2014.
  23. Xtra!
    , September 5, 2014.
  24. ^ a b ‘Stories Of Our Lives,’ An Anthology Film About Queer Life In Kenya Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. Okayafrica, November 16, 2014.
  25. ^ "Jim Chuchu – Pagans (2014)". Jim Chuchu. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  26. ^
    OCLC 1090678799.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  27. ^ "Senegalese Government Shuts Down Exhibitions Addressing Queer Issues". Hyperallergic. 2014-06-06. Retrieved 2019-06-15.
  28. ^ Afropean Mimicry & Mockery in Theatre, Performance & Visual Arts. Künstlerhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt a.M, November 16, 2014.
  29. ^ Shifting Africa. Kulturzentrum Faust, November 15, 2014.
  30. ^ Potts, Andrew. "Senegal to host gay art exhibition in May despite criminalizing gay sex". Gay Star News. Archived from the original on 5 May 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  31. ^ Future Reflexions Exhibition Jelili Atiku, Wura-Natasha Ogunji, Dennis Feser and Jim Chuchu. Daily Record, November 15, 2014.
  32. ^ Future Reflexions Exhibition. The Arches, November 16, 2014.
  33. ^ Video: Just A Band’s ‘Kudishnyao!’ Art Exhibit Archived 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. Okayafrica, November 16, 2014.
  34. ^ Contact Zones NRB. Goethe-Institut Kenya, November 16, 2014.
  35. ^ Taking Photography in Kenyan to the Next Level. Art Matters, November 16, 2014.
  36. ^ Kenyan Pop Songs Revisited + Interview With The Legacy Project’s Jarel Nduba. Okayafrica, November 16, 2014.

External links

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