Jason Edward Lewis was awarded the “Jury’s Choice” Award for the excellence of his submissions to the ELO 2012 Media Art Show.

A digital media artist, poet and software designer, Jason Edward Lewis founded Obx Laboratory for Experimental Media, where he directs research/creation projects devising new means of creating and reading digital texts, developing systems for creative use of mobile technology, designing alternative interfaces for live performance, and using virtual environments to assist Aboriginal communities in preserving, interpreting and communicating cultural histories. He co-founded and co-directs the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace research network that is investigating how Native people can participate in the shaping of our digital media future, and co-directs the “Skins Workshops on Aboriginal Storytelling and Digital Media.” Lewis is committed to developing intriguing new forms of expression by working on conceptual, creative and technical levels simultaneously. His creative work has been featured at the Ars Electronica Center, ISEA, SIGGRAPH, Urban Screens, and Mobilefest, among other venues, his writing about new media has been presented at conferences, festivals and exhibitions on four continents, and his work has won awards at the Ars Electronica and imagineNative festivals. He is currently an Associate Professor of Computation Arts at Concordia University in Montreal.

The P.o.E.M.M. Cycle is a series of interactive touch text-works about making sense of crazy talk & kid talk, the meanings of different shades of purple, the conundrums of being a Cherokee boy adopted by Anglos and raised in northern California mountain country, and the importance of calling a sundae a sundae.

“The Great Migration” is a poem about leaving, about the excitement of heading out into a great unknown.

“Buzz Aldrin Doesn't Know Any Better” is a conversation with an old intralocutor, Pretty Jesus, about the contents of a pawn shop street-side display window in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco.

“Smooth Second Bastard” is a meditation on the difference between being asked “where ya from” and being asked “are you from around here?”:

“What They Speak When They Speak to Me” is a poem about mistaken identity and the confusion—amusing and alarming—that happens when people believe you are somebody you are not.

“What They Speak When They Speak to Me”

by Jason Edward Lewis

“The Great Migration”

by Jason Edward Lewis

“Buzz Aldrin Doesn’t Know Any Better”

by Jason Edward Lewis

“Smooth Second Bastard”

by Jason Edward Lewis