An autobiographical video diary log (vlog) that Jillian Mayer records for her unborn grandchildren.
Commissioned as part of our filmmaker + musician collaboration series, Jillian Mayer made this video with Michael-John Hancock of ANR for Borscht 7.
"5/5 Stars" - Film Threat Review
“As Mayer and her collaborator predicted, the video went viral immediately, with over 220,000 views in the first week. I Am Your Grandma was designed for mass appeal. Humor, short-attention-span pacing, and an addictive soundtrack make it as engaging as a Super Bowl commercial break… Mayer posits the video as a medium of lasting intergenerational communication, a way to accurately send the present into the future. She plays herself- the author- dressed in elaborate feature-distorting costumes inspired by the legendary performance artist Leigh Bowery. I Am Your Grandma leans towards the fictional. On the Internet, its intent and authenticity are totally undefined.
To date, Grandma has gotten over 1 million hits. It has been spoofed- mostly by kids. It has spawned micro-communities on Facebook and YouTube. Its title has entered the Urban dictionary as ‘when something is really weird and terrifying and traumatizing in a way you can’t forget.’ Online comments highlight the majority disposition of the Internet community- many honed in on buried sexual undertones and Mayer’s shocking costumes in sometimes crude and raw language. A few proposed marriage. Regardless of its unconventional exhibition history, I Am Your Grandma was originally produced for the art world, a context that does elicit more sophisticated viewer responses… teasing a slightly different interpretation: the definition of individual identities within the family structure. Here, family roles become fictional constructions shaped by stereotypical expectations.
The details of its technology-driven debut are in perfect step with its conceptual territory. It plays role games with popular media, the public, and the art world. Reception is central to the work: its fate the layers of interpretation it accrues as it crosses channels and institutions are almost as relevant as its message.” -Art Papers Magazine Cover Story
Mayer\Leyva is performance artist Jillian Mayer and retired playwright Lucas Leyva. Their collaborations include short films, art installations, music videos, experimental theater, and web projects.
Their last two short films (Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke; #PostModem) premiered at Sundance and went on to play AFI, Milan, New York, Los Angeles, Winterthur, New Zealand and festivals all over the world. In 2012 four separate Mayer\Leyva projects were screened at SXSW and in 2013 they returned with another.
Named to Filmmaker Magazine’s "25 New Faces of Independent Film” list, their projects have also screened at museums worldwide including MoMA, Guggenheim Museums, New Orleans Contemporary and the permanent collection of the Miami Art Museum. This year they were selected for the New Frontier Story Lab Fellowship at the Sundance Institute.
Their music videos have been featured by Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Vice, Stereogum, and NME and have been named to various year-end Top10 video lists, including IFC.
They have made three viral videos, including I Am Your Grandma, which became an unlikely sensation that has been spoofed on various TV shows and was featured on the cover of Art Papers Magazine, and the controversial Jacuzzi Boys: Glazin’ which became infamous after getting over 600,000 views in 48 hours before being banned from YouTube permanently and becoming the subject of a SXSW Panel.
They have been awarded grants from the Cintas Foundation Fellowship for Cuban-American Artists, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Elsewhere Museum/ National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Harpo Foundation, the Zentrum Paul Klee Museum Fellowship (Switzerland), and the South Florida Cultural Consortium’s Visual and Media Artists Fellowship.
Together they help run the Borscht Corporation and the Borscht Film Festival in Miami, where they work and live with Shivers, their wise and benevolent miniature chihuahua.
website: mayerleyva.com