Kevin Jerome Everson
Charlottesville, VA
Kevin Jerome Everson’s films are performative explorations into African American culture. Since 1995, he has created numerous movies, including Avenues, Second Shift, and Adult Material; often these are created in conjunction with visual art installations or paintings. Everson’s work has been screened at the Sundance Film Festival, the Athens International Film Festival, London’s International Centre of the Arts, and the South by Southwest Film Festival. He has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council. His visual art has been exhibited at the Whitney, the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, and throughout Europe.
Everson received a Heinz Award in 2019.
A Week in the Hole
Kevin Jerome Everson’s films are performative explorations into African American culture.
Artist BioA Week in the Hole, shot on digital video and 16mm, tells the story of a factory employee’s adjustment to his first week at a new job, focusing on the repetitive tasks he must learn and complete. Each task is filmed several times, detailing the employee’s gradual increase in understanding over time. The exaggerated colors of the products the factory produces are captured on film as digital video records the passage of time, the repetition of task, and the everyday gestures of the employee.