"The point of departure for the book Black Ark with Lee “Scratch” Perry (1936–2021),
a Jamaican musical and visual artist who was based in Switzerland, is a detailed
inventory of photographs and writings (Spring 2021) from the Black Ark Studios in
Kingston, Jamaica, where Lee produced his music from 1973 on. He was a seminal
pioneer of dub, an electronic subgenre of reggae that uses sampling, looping,
remixing, reverb and echoes to create new songs as well as rework and appropriate
pre-recorded songs and tracks.
Black Ark Studios was one of the cradles of dub. It’s also where Lee “Scratch”
Perry’s musical approach found an enduring visual counterpart in the form of
continuously evolving mural paintings and drawings as well as shape-shifting
assemblages of records, instruments, found objects, posters, newspaper and
magazine clippings, and appropriated books. The artworks form actual layers upon
layers that are rhizomatically intertwined with the studio building itself as well as with
the furniture inside—and with Perry’s biography and persona.
Perry created his very own, dense and eclectic world—a world that is documented in
Black Ark, before it disappears for good: the premises have recently been sold. The
photographic documentation of the studio was supplemented by efforts to secure and
preserve Perry’s cultural objects as part of a joint project with various cultural
institutions.
Black Ark which reflects the rhythm and layering effects of collage both in its content
and the materials used to craft the book. Perry was involved in the conception of the
book in its early stages. It also interweaves various media and chronologies. The new
photographs of the Black Ark Studios will be juxtaposed with stills from old
documentaries and archival photos.
The idea of a “house” serves as both a working hypothesis and a metaphor. It will be
the starting point and endpoint of various thematic strands, both visual and textual:
for example, the book will explore the Black Ark as a “spiritual yard” in the context of
African diaspora, as well as looking into archeomusicological aspects. Furthermore,
extended captions by Perry’s biographer will provide the backdrop for a kaleidoscopic
panorama of Perry’s eclectic and ingenious work."
