Jennifer Lauren Martin is a London-based artist filmmaker (writer/director) whose practice involves film, sound, sculptural installation, writing, performance, and more. Within their practice, Lauren Martin traces black diasporic and queer social relations, blending narrative and experimental approaches to draw viewers in and create a psychosomatic connection.

Lauren Martin is a Film London Lodestar and BAFTA Connect Member. They were part of We Are Parable x Channel 4’s scheme Momentum for black British filmmakers (2022) and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture’s residency (2022). Their short ‘TEETH’ (2020/2021) won ‘Best Screenplay’ at SOUL Fest and was nominated for ‘Best Experimental Short’ at BlackStar. Their UK solo exhibitions were held at Turf Projects, Primary and Kingsgate workshops. Public art projects and performances have been programmed at ICA, South London Gallery, Somerset House, The Showroom, and Matt’s Gallery.

Lauren Martin is a co-director of not/nowhere, a black and POC-led analogue filmmaking cooperative and a Senior Tutor at Ruskin School of Art (University of Oxford). 

CV

Education: 
2020 - 2021   PGCert in Art & Design Education, Royal College of Art, London
2016 - 2018    MA Photography, Royal College of Art, London
2011                  Erasmus in Time and Space, Academy of Fine Arts (Kuvataideakatemia), Helsinki
2009 - 2013   BA Fine Art, Slade School of Art, University College London, London

Solo exhibitions: 
2022  Under the pink of my tongue, I found love, Kingsgate Workshops, London
2019  TEETH, Primary and b.Dewitt Gallery, Nottingham
2019  Channel 6, Turf Projects, London

Selected group exhibitions: 
2019  Aesthetica Art Prize, York Art Gallery, York, UK
2019  Atropelos, curated by Daniel Rourke & Luiza Prado, arbyte Gallery, London
2018  Fig. 1 Limelight, curated by Alex McNamee, Switchboard Studios, London
2017  Live at Lychee One, curator and participating artist, Lychee One, London
2016  A Process 2.0, curated by DER GREIF, Kraków Photomonth, Kraków
2015  Guest Room, curated by Katrin Weber, Galerie f5,6, Munich

Public Art Projects:
2019  Britain Been Rotten, Cypher BILLBOARDS, Domino Houses Billboard, London
2017  Gaze: Utterance, Commissioned by Durham Wharf Foundation, ICA, London
2017  Gaze: Navigating the Veil, Comm. Durham Wharf Foundation, South London Gallery, London
2017  Gaze: On the Verge of the Visible, Comm. Durham Wharf Foundation, Showroom, London

Awards and Honours:
2021  Film London Lodestar, Artist Filmmaker Best Screenplay, SOUL Fest
2021  Nominated for Best Experimental Film, BlackStar Film Festival
2019  Arts Council England Project Grant Elephant Trust Grant
2019  Shortlisted for the junges dokfest: A38-Production-Grant Kassel-Halle
2018  Stuart Croft Foundation Education Award
2018  Dissertation Award, School of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art
2017  Durham Wharf Foundation Award

Residencies & Fellowships:
2022  Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, Skowhegan
2022  William and Louise Greaves Seminar, BlackStar Film Festival, Philadelphia
2022  Momentum Programme, We Are Parable x Channel 4
2021   Hospitalfield Autumn Residency, Arbroath
2019   Kingsgate Workshops Artist in Residence, London, UK FLAMIN Fellowship, London
2017   Chisenhale Studio4, Chisenhale Studios, London
2015   Visual Arts Workshop, led by Julie Mehretu, Fundación Botín, Santander
2013   Artists’ Exchange, Qatar UK Year of Culture, British Council, Doha

Recent Performances:
2024  A---Z, Always Coming Home, Chapter 4, Matt's Gallery, London 
2023  Diasporas Now, UK Tour, NN Contemporary Art, London
2023  The Voices of a Tempest, Act III: You Make Me Feel, Somerset House Studios, London
2019   Racialised Interiority, Royal College of Art, London
2019   Look, but don’t Look, Turf Projects, London
2019   Reading, Cypher Billboard, London
2017   Now Facing, Lychee One, London

Selected screenings and festivals (in competition*): 
2025  History Reverberates, Tate Britain, London 
2024  Conference Call: Moving Image, Lost in Translation, Skowhegan Alumni Exhibition, Olympia Gallery, NY 

2023  Momentum Day, We Are Parable, Brixton House, London
2023  Bournemouth University, Bournemouth

2022  British Shorts Berlin*, Berlin
2022  South Bank University, London
2022  Common(ing) Thread, First Cut x New Flesh, online screening, NL
2022  The Douglas Hyde Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin
2022  Royal Academy Schools, London

2021  Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival*, Hawick
2021  BlackStar Film Festival*, Philadelphia
2021  SOUL Fest*, London
2021  Aesthetica Short Film Festival, York
2021  AKI ARTEZ University of the Arts, Enschede
2021  TRANSMISSIONS in partnership with Somerset House, online screening
2021  See My World Festival, in partnership with We Are Parable, Manchester

2020  Rencontres Internationales du Documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)*, Montréal
2020  B3 Biennial of the Moving image, Frankfurt
2020  Screening Room: TEETH, LUX, online screening
2020  Selected 10, Videoclub, touring online programme

2019  Kasseler Dokfest*, Kassel
2019  European Media Art Festival*, Osnabrück
2019  B3 Biennial of the Moving Image, Frankfurt
2019  Creating Interference Sankofa, Regent Street Cinema, London
2019  Homage and Diversion, North Norwegian Art Centre, Svolvær

2018  Inner/Outer, Art Licks Weekend, London
2018  Inner/Outer, PAF & NCSU, Prague

Recent Teaching:
2022 - present  Senior Tutor, BFA/MFA/DPhil Fine Art, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford
2023 - 2024      Lecturer, BFA Film and Photography, Kingston University
2021 - 2022       Visiting Tutor, BFA/MFA Fine Art, Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford
2021 - 2022       Coordinator of Professional Development Programme, Ruskin School of Art, Oxford
2021 - 2022       Lecturer in Fine Art, Lady Margaret Hall, University of Oxford
2019 - 2021        Visiting Lecturer, MA Critical & Historical Studies, Royal College of Art Visiting
2019 - 2021        Lecturer, School of Art and Humanities, Royal College of Art
2018 - 2021        Associate Lecturer, BA Photojournalism & Doc Photo, LCC
2019                    Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art Mixed Media, University of Westminster
2019                    Adjunct Professor, BA Visual Culture, Syracuse University London

Selected Press: 
2022  “Jennifer Martin: 15th British Shorts, Berlin 2022.” n.d. The New Current. https://www.thenewcurrent.co.uk/jennifer-martin.

2021  Martin, Jennifer Lauren, and Isabel Wang Pontoppidan. 2021. “Performing Identities Conversation”. Edited by First Cut. 2021. https://www.firstcut.nl/performing-identities-conversation/.

2021  “Camberwell Director Wins London Film Prize.” n.d. Southwark News. https://southwarknews.co.uk/news/culture/camberwell-director-wins-london-film-prize/.

2021  Diaspora, Team. 2021. “BlackStar Film Festival Kicks Off; Celebrates 10 Years of Black, Brown and Indigenous Artists.” DIASPORA. August 3, 2021. https://thediasporatimes.com/2021/08/03/blackstar-film-festival/.