Press

The Face of Jamaica Plain Featured in The Boston Globe…

“Face to Face Connection” The Boston Globe, January 27, 2008

“At Anibal’s Color Super Studio on Centre Street, Margaux Joffe and Rey Ramírez sat on swivel chairs and waited for people to filter into the small room.

They did; and one by one, the two residents of Jamaica Plain got to know their neighbors.

It’s all part of “The Face of Jamaica Plain,” a documentary portrait project that Joffe and Ramirez have started in an effort to promote communication among residents of the ethnically and culturally diverse community.

Throughout the month, they have held open sessions at the studio for anyone from the neighborhood to drop in, have their photograph taken, and participate in a filmed interview, conducted in English or Spanish, about their experiences living in JP.

In May, excerpts of the conversations will be produced in both languages alongside black-and-white portraits of each speaker for an exhibition at Roxbury Community College. The display will be part of a local summit organized by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation to discuss such issues as affordable housing and economic opportunity….”

read full article here: Documentary project focuses on helping Jamaica Plain residents connect – The Boston Globe

The Face of Jamaica Plain Featured in Boston’s The Bulletin Newspapers…

Scott Wachtler 31.JAN.08

The Bulletin Newspapers, Inc

www.bulletinnewspapers.com

 

“Documenting the Faces of Jamaica Plain”

Funky.

Diverse.

Eclectic.

Three words used to describe Jamaica Plain by people who live there.

Filmmaker and photographer Margaux Joffe, along with Rey Ramirez, from Jamaica Plain’s Anibal Color Studio hope that the people of Jamaica Plain will join them in the studio and expand on those descriptions for their project: The Face of Jamaica Plain.

“The goal of the project is to use documentary film and photography as a way to create a positive impact on the community,” Joffe said. “I want to create a community based portrait documentary project that will help improve communication between the many diverse backgrounds of the residents of Jamaica Plain.”

Joffe was recently awarded the 2007-2008 Lewis Hine Documentary Fellowship, sponsored by Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies.

As part of her fellowship, Joffe has been working with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation to coordinate the project.

Joffe began interviewing people in August and has about 23 interviews in the can. People from the neighborhood have come to the small studio to sit in front of her camera while she asks them questions about their experience living in Jamaica Plain.

People from all walks of life come to the studio to be interviewed for 10-15 minutes.

“Sometimes they tell us that they don’t want to talk,” Ramirez said, “But those are the ones that end up talking the longest.”

Ramirez said that he finds helping out on the project interesting. Especially since, in his experience, Hispanic people don’t always express themselves to strangers.

“We like to help people,” he said. “But we don’t always like to talk about ourselves. Something like this is good for that.”

Once Joffe and Ramirez sit them down and the camera starts rolling, people begin to talk.

“People like to talk about themselves,” Joffe said. “And people like to get photographed.”

After Joffe asks them questions about where they’re from and where they like to hang out in Jamaica Plain, the questions turn to issues facing the neighborhood such as what they think the biggest problems the area faces, and how they think Jamaica Plain can be improved.

Before Joffe takes their picture, she asks them to describe JP in three words.

“The idea is to have the portraits coupled with . . . selections of the interviews translated into English and Spanish,” Joffe said.

Residents that participate in the project also get a free copy of their portrait.

The exhibit will take place in May at Roxbury Community College as part of a neighborhood forum that will be sponsored by the JPNC called Building an Equitable Community.

“The goal of the forum is to see how we can keep J.P. affordable and inclusive. It’s a way for people to get involved in the community process,” Joffe said.

She sees the project as a way for the people in the neighborhood to get to know everyone and themselves.

“Positive social change has to start in your own community. I’d like to see more people participating in their own community to help fix the problems we have out there. Something small like this can be the first step to help change things,” she said.

Joffe is currently working on scheduling more studio time for February, but if last week was an indication of the interest, she’ll have to keep her doors open longer. Three people came into the studio not sure what the project was about. When Joffe explained, they decided that they didn’t have time to sit for the interview, but said they would come back.

Evelyn Reyes had time. In fact, she took off work early to participate in the project. She found a postcard about the project in her building and loved the idea.

“I think it’s important to show the diversity of JP,” Reyes said.

She’s lived in the area since 1975 and has seen a lot of changes.

LIke Joffe, Reyes is of Dominican descent and said Jamaica Plain’s diversity is its strong suit.

“My family has lived near other Dominican families, an Italian family, African American families, Asian families and Syrian families,” Reyes said. “That diversity really added a lot to the lives of my brother and me. It helped bring people together. It connects neighbor to neighbor.”

For more information about the project and to see how you can participate, check out their website at: http://thefaceofjp.wordpress.com/

– The Bulletin Newspapers