Ulysses S. Jenkins is a groundbreaking video artist who emerged in the late-1970s. His video and media work is remarkable for its fusion of forms to conjure vibrant expressions of how image, sound, and cultural iconography inform representation. Using archival footage, photographs, image processing, and elegiac soundtracks, Jenkins pulls together strands of thought to construct an “other” history that consistently interrogates questions of race and gender as they relate to ritual, history, and state power.
Jenkins was awarded the California Arts Council's Multicultural Entry Grant for his work as artistic director of Othervisions Studio, an interdisciplinary media arts production group. He has received funding from National Endowment for the Arts' three times in the individual artist fellowship and was awarded first place in the experimental video for the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1990 and 1992. His work is continually being recognized nationally and internationally.
