Between January – April 2021 Jamila was a studio residency artist at Gasworks, London. During the residency she was working on the first in a series of three moving image works An Echo for my Father (2021) exploring her relationship with her late father Russell Herman, a Black south African jazz musician who passed away when she was three. The film looks at the micro experience of absence – what it means to have an absent parent and not have access to one side of your heritage. Within the film, and during the residency, Jamila worked with textiles as a tactile form of processing complex familial histories. Two wall hangings, titled Echoes (2021), are the result, and are depicted being made in real time within the film, as well as displayed in the background of one of the scenes.

For more information on Jamila's Gasworks residency, visit their website. 

An Echo for My Father is is co-commissioned by Lighthouse through the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, part of Re-Imagine Europe. With support from Arts Council England and Hordaland Kunstsenter.

Gasworks Studio Residencies are a response to outbreak of Covid-19, which has caused the postponement our international residency programme. Until the programme can resume, the residency studios have been made available to London-based artists and writers who are currently unable to afford their own dedicated workspace.