Love Jamie is a heartfelt documentary short, profiling the life and work of incarcerated 64-year-old Mexican-American trans-woman artist Jamie Diaz, and her close relationship with pen-pal Gabriel Joffe. We follow the pair as they prepare for Diaz’s first solo art exhibition, ‘Even Flowers Bleed’ shown at Daniel Cooney Fine Art in New York.
Diaz was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1996 for an aggravated burglary committed whilst she was a drug addict. She has been incarcerated in a men’s prison in Texas for the past twenty-seven years. There, she developed her skills as a watercolour artist, self-taught. Using the palm of her hand as a palette, she has produced a dreamy body of work from her imagination, celebrating queer and trans lives. Diaz met Joffe ten years ago through Black & Pink, an org that advocates for LGBTQ people who are incarcerated.
Director Karla Murthy has created an intimate portrait of the pair who have exchanged over three hundred surreal/fantastical illustrated letters and cards during the past ten years, plus countless phone calls. The focus of the film is on positivity rather than negativity. Joffe features in many of Diaz’s Robert Crumb cartoon-like drawings as she documented their transition over time. Joffe has taken Diaz under their wing and helps to organise the exhibition with Cooney, which, of course, Diaz can’t attend. Diaz is eligible for parole in 2025 and Joffe is hoping the art show and documentary will show that Diaz is rehabilitated, has a support network in the outside world and should therefore be granted parole. A fascinating glimpse into other lives. Good luck to them both.
PS Ris Fatah reviewed LOVe JAMIE at OUTFEST Film Fest in LAQueerguru’s Contributing Editor Ris Fatah is a successful fashion/luxury business consultant (when he can be bothered) who divides and wastes his time between London and Ibiza. He is a lover of all things queer, feminist, and human rights in general. @ris.fatah
