Homer "Skip" Jackson,

a "Philadelphia Treasure", has died at the age of 67.

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After a twenty-one month battle, Homer succumbed to multiple myeloma, peacefully at home on July 13, 2024. He is survived by his soul mate, Lynn Washington; beloved daughter, Asha Jackson; and a multitude of family and friends he inspired, encouraged and loved.

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In 2022, Homer received recognition as one of the first Cultural Treasures

Artists Fellows. The application written by Teresa Jaynes and Victoria Prizzia, creator of POOL: A Social History of Segregation, is a beautifully written summation of Homer's lifetime achievements, that could not have expressed his life's work better.

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Please discuss why you felt compelled to nominate this

person (or collaborative) among all the BIPOC artists in Philadelphia. Describe how their work makes a meaningful difference in the lives of their neighbors or stated cultural community.

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Homer Jackson is a Philadelphia treasure. He deserves to be recognized for his creativity, his generosity of spirit, his unrelenting honesty and commitment to genuine collaborations (that are uplifting for all), and his continually evolving work that honors his Black community in extraordinary ways while stretching and challenging the minds and hearts of all others.

Even as the weight of being a Black male artist in America during his lifetime has consistently frustrated, minimized, and exhausted him, he somehow always gets back to his own source of life force energy and creativity, to produce work that is exceptional— smart, funny, beautiful, and impactful.  

With his unique and powerful storytelling voice, he has reached hundreds of thousands of people from all walks of life. He creates dialogue between historical and contemporary events and voices to illuminate storylines that have been forgotten or misinterpreted or intentionally twisted with negative impacts on Black communities and the persistent roadblocks of structural racism in the United States experience. As he puts it, his work as a practicing interdisciplinary artist, a teaching artist and as a curator/producer in collaboration with other artists, aims to “unbend” falsehoods that are purported / accepted as truth in mainstream culture. 

 

Homer’s work explores “historical or mythological personalities and events”, as a means of investigating (and healing) elements of the Black experience in America, whether through his “own personal tales, or those of the Black collective consciousness.” He holds himself accountable to the truth of his personal experience to “shine a light on the darkened corners of the American experience.” His collaborative efforts are purposeful in terms of having the right mix of talents to fully realize his visions for the whole. These synergies also are designed to build community. This flourishing, is the direct result of his activity as a working artist for the past 49 years.
 

With over 30 years’ experience as a teaching artist working in community settings, Homer has served as project director for various arts & humanities projects and has conducted workshops in senior centers, prisons, schools and community organizations. In 1996, he received special recognition for his work with Youth-at-Risk from the President's Committee on Arts & Humanities. Jackson works with young people, adults, and elders. Through his workshops, participants have produced art exhibitions, albums, books, comic books and videos.
 

Homer’s generosity is a fundamental aspect of his work. He has shared knowledge and experiences with his peers through conversations, workshops, and newsletters. He has served as a panelist or nominator for granting agencies and foundations including the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Award. He has taught workshops on performance art and grantmaking/grant writing on his own without institutional support. Ironically, his first opportunity to teach on a local college campus materialized during the COVID pandemic.
Philadelphia is challenged to be better, to do better, to be more creative, more inclusive, more experimental because of artists like Homer Jackson. His example is one to be celebrated and encouraged, not ignored and forgotten.

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Please ask your Nominee to tell you who they hold themselves accountable to as an artist or cultural worker and why.

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My name is Homer Jackson, I am an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in Philadelphia.  As an artist, I have found myself functioning most often in three realms; 1) as a practicing interdisciplinary artist, 2) as a teaching artist with over 30 years experience working in community settings and 3) as an artist/curator/producer consistently working in collaboration with other artists.



 

Overall, I am most interested in telling stories. My work is most often filled with humor, irony and most important, signifying. Presenting unofficial culture, unofficial language as official, I utilize images, found objects, sound, text, narrative, video, live performance, audience interaction and construction in my work to sometimes twist the truth, or unbend a falsehood. These efforts take the form of performance art, fiction, video or audio works, public art, or installations. 



 

Much of my work examines historical or mythological personalities and events. All of my work in one way or another investigates elements of the black experience in America, whether through my own personal tales, or those of the collective consciousness. I try to hold myself accountable to the truth of my personal experience and to that of this Black collective consciousness of which I speak. 

I want to make art that speaks to people's lives in interesting and engaging ways. I want to make people laugh, cry....feel.  It's about peeling away layers of mystery, falsehood and doubt by using inquiry, research and even creative speculation to shine a light on the darkened corners of the American experience, where so many of our people's tales lie. Essentially, there is a vast, uncharted universe of Blackness out there, I have always sought to be one of its astronauts.

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How did they manage to sustain their artistic practice while remaining

in Philly? Why is Philly better because of their sustained presence?

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From my perspective, Homer has managed to sustain his artistic practice through his personal commitment to his own evolution as a human being and artist. My observation of him over the last two years is that he naturally works at the edge of his experience and abilities. In this way, he is consistently mastering new skill sets while challenging himself, and those he collaborates with, to dive into the unknown together to create something new. This “something new” isn’t of the fleeting variety, but deeply entwined action and creation in relation to our shared experience. His work aims to free our collective narratives from oppression, abuse and misrepresentation. I see Homer’s work as a reclaiming that is at once deeply personal and externally motivated.

So, Homer naturally diversifies his offerings through his own mission to improve life for African American communities and by his personal character that is grounded in curiosity and a desire for creative expansion.  All of these priorities continue to push him to create new work, in spite of the fickle and sometimes narrow priorities and politics of the people and organizations in control of resources and decision-making on the community, national and global scales.

In his own words, Homer was able to sustain his artistic practice, “in spite of socially-accepted class and racial challenges within the Philadelphia art community, because of the shared commitment to my vision by my wife, designer Lynn Washington. Her support and encouragement made it possible to stand when others sat, to continue when the times were tough, to be fearless and inquisitive when it was not fashionable to do so.”