Jermaine Anthony Richards is a scholar-advocate, artist, and producer whose work concerns the aesthetics, ethics, and politics of “human” advocacy. His dissertation examines Social Impact Entertainment aesthetic frameworks’ maintenance of what it means to be “human” and its ethical implications for immersive artworks seeking to contend with the politics of race and humanity. The project draws from Black Critical Theory, Computer Graphics, Art History, and Aesthetics and Ethics.
As a PhD candidate in Communication at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, Richards works with Robeson Taj Frazier (Chair) and Zakiyyah Iman Jackson. He also pursues a graduate certificate in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at the Center on Science, Technology, and Public Life, where he focuses on the philosophies and cultures of categories and computer graphics.
Jermaine holds degrees from the University of Southern California (MA in Global Communication), the London School of Economics and Political Science (MSc in Global Media), and York College at the City University of New York (BS in Communications Technology and Studio Art)—a joint major that combines communication design, information systems, and systems engineering. He enriched his undergraduate studies at York College with Studio Art to explore 20th Century Black/African Diasporic Art Practices under the late Jamaican-born visual artist, curator, and art historian Margaret Rose Vendryes.
For his academics, Jermaine has been supported by the inaugural Advertising Club of New York Innovation, Industry, and Media Scholarship and the Advertising Club of New York Presidential Fellowship for his undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Jermaine's work has also been recognized and supported by the American Association for Advertising Agencies (4As), the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the ADCOLOR® Conference, New America's Digital Impact and Governance Initiative and the Responsible Asset Allocator, The ADVERTISING Club of New York, and the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.
Richards is also an award-winning social impact producer responsible for producing Momo Pixel’s Hair Nah. The International ANDY Awards, The One Show, the Brooklyn Arts Council, and the WEBBY Awards have recognized the game for its innovation, impact, and execution. It has been exhibited globally at London's Tate Modern and Victoria & Albert to the Smithsonian Museums, amongst others. It has also appeared in Vogue and The New York Times. It is taught at academic institutions worldwide, including, but not limited to, MIT, Harvard, and Oxford.
Read more about Jermaine's journey here.