Episode 7 Jamal Martin - ”Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home”

Jamal Martin, Documentary Photographer and Filmmaker, sits down with Jeffrey Goodman, Director of Marketing and Development with the YMCA of Northwest Louisiana, to answer the following questions:

 

0:39 1. I recently was reading an interview with the writer William S Burroughs and he made the statement, “…dreaming is a very necessary function, and I think that’s something that artists do. They dream for other people.”

 

How do you feel about that statement? How would you describe what you feel is your role as a photographer and as an artist?

 

2:02 2. I’ve read that your stepfather is the one that introduced you to photography. Talk to me about his influence and how he inspired you to take photographs yourself?

 

3:20 3. Most of the photos of yours I have seen seem captured rather than staged. Talk to me a little about your process. Do you just always have your camera on you? What happens to make you decide to pull your camera out and start photographing?

 

6:03 4. I asked another guest a similar question recently. You have a friend come into town that has never been to the Shreveport-Bossier area before. He or she is only in town for one full day. Where do you go or where do you take him or her to give them a feel for your community?

 

10:00 5. You are a young, black man, a photographer that focuses mainly on the black community locally. From your perspective, is the black community unified with the white community in the Shreveport-Bossier area? And, if not, as you look around, what are some of the steps you feel could be taken to help bring these two communities closer together?

 

14:57 6. This new initiative we started at the Y, “Shreveport-Bossier: My City, My Community, My Home” has two components, the podcast interview series like we’re doing today and then a periodic panel discussion series. We have announced that our next panel discussion will focus on the issue of juvenile crime in the Shreveport-Bossier area. How do see the juvenile crime problem in our community? And do you see any steps we can start taking to help address the problem?

 

17:22 7. I’ve read that having people see black joy is important to you. Can you talk a little about that?