Jeremy Ayers (1948 – October 24, 2016) was an American artist, writer, photographer, and musician. Ayers was a member of the

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, creative community, published three books of photography, and co-wrote songs for

The B-52's The B-52's, also styled as The B-52s, are an American new wave band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1976. The original lineup consisted of Fred Schneider (vocals, percussion), Kate Pierson (vocals, keyboards, synth bass), Cindy Wilson (vocals, ...

and

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

In 2021, a newly discovered species of ant ('' Strumigenys ayersthey'') was named in his honor.

Life and death

Born Charles Jeremy Ayers, he grew up in Athens, Georgia where his father Robert H. Ayers taught theology at the University of Georgia. He became involved (as "Sylva Thinn") with

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

in the 1970s. Ayers wrote for ''Interview'' and published three books of photography (''Aeronautica'', 2011; ''Today in New York'', 2011; and ''Occupy!'', 2012), which featured scenes from Athens, New York City street life, and

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to t ...

. Ayers was credited as co-writer of " 52 Girls" from the debut album of The B-52's. He also worked with fellow Athens musicians R.E.M., co-writing the song " Old Man Kensey" from the 1985 album ''

Fables of the Reconstruction ''Fables of the Reconstruction'', also known as ''Reconstruction of the Fables'', is the third studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on I.R.S. Records on June 10, 1985. The Joe Boyd-produced album was the first recorde ...

''. His father Robert was a civil rights advocate and professor of religion at the University of Georgia. On October 24, 2016, Ayers died unexpectedly of a seizure at the age of 68.

Legacy

Following his death, the Athens Institute for Contemporary Art presented a month-long exhibition featuring Ayers's work titled "Out There: Photographs in the spirit of Jeremy Ayers." In addition to photographs taken by Ayers, the exhibit included photography done by other artists taken "in the same spirit" of his work. In 2017 Ayers's friend

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

presented an art installation in his honor at Moogfest in Durham, North Carolina. The installation, titled "Jeremy Dance," featured footage of Ayers dancing to a 120 beats per minute disco song; Stipe then paired the dancing footage with music specially composed (using a Moog synthesizer and a Roland Juno) to match Ayers's movements. In 2021 German entomologist Phillip Hoenle discovered a new species of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of ...

, which he sent to Yale University taxonomic expert Douglas Booher. After receiving the blessing of Stipe, Booher decided to name the ant ''Strumigenys ayersthey'' after Ayers. The "they" in ''ayersthey'' refers to the

singular they Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentenc ...

"in a celebration of gender diversity." According to Booher, Ayers himself identified as a gay man; the "they" suffix was intended to honor both Ayers's LGBT activism and the

non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...

community.

References

External links

Jeremy Ayers Tumblr (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayers, Jeremy 1948 births 2016 deaths American writers American musicians American photographers American LGBT artists