Jay Katz & Miss Death
Jaimie Leonarder known as Jay Katz is an Australian musician, archivist, social worker, film critic, radio announcer, and DJ.
Jaimie & Aspasia Leonarder trained as diversional therapists. They worked in nursing homes, community centres and on the street in the 1980s/1990s. Jaimie managed the Hurstville Community Youth Support Scheme and worked for Sydney City Mission during the 90s whose work involved caring for the homeless, alcoholic & drug affected.
Leonarder formed an experimental noise rock band called the Mu Mesons (1982–1999) which became a support group for marginalised and mentally ill musicians. He saw this form of creative expression as therapy & catharsis.
Across many disciplines of artistic output, Jaimie & Aspasia have always shared the stage disempowered individuals as part of their manifesto.
Jaimie & Aspasia have been lauded as the king & queen of Sydney's underground arts community, always inspiring those who remain on the margins.
Their performance & community work spanx over 5 decades and is the subject of the acclaimed documentary film Love & Anarchy: The Wild Wild World of Jaimie Leonarder. This documentary explores the notion of the underground.
Leonarder co-hosted The Movie Show, a film criticism show broadcast on SBS television (2006)
Jamie & Aspasia Leonarder have worked extensively across the field of community services, hospices, hospitals, hostels, proclaimed places, nursing homes, casualty wards and mobile on the streets of Sydney.
Running parallel to this, they created their own independent artistic community with their home warehouse they call The Mu Meson Archives. They have consistently organised screenings, lectures and performance events with well over 100,000 attendees over 20 years.
Jaimie & Aspasia have identified a much neglected aspect of the creative community in Sydney and tried against all odds to liberate and celebrate their expression.
They are passionate and driven to build community and make society aware of its greater artistic responsibilities.
For over 3 decades husband and wife team Jaimie & Aspasia Leonarder have celebrated and supported the artists that have fallen between the cracks. They met working as therapists with the institutionally disabled. Artist on the fringes, who gives a damn! will explore the marginalised and disempowered artists who sit outside the system and to this day remain neglected. These individuals are disadvantaged due to their circumstances. These categories include mental health, physical disabilities, literacy & social economic issues.
How does one explore their artistic endeavours when society deems them an outcast?
Jaimie & Aspasia Leonarder have always seen themselves as the bridge over troubled water for this disenfranchised aspect of community.
Never considering to seek assistance from any funding body, they have resourced themselves through the DIY ethic and celebrated the outsider as the groundbreaking artists.
Sydney is an incubator and melting pot of cultural & individual diversity. They want to tear the psychological boundaries and borders that separate the arts and make it far more inclusive.
To use the words of Philip Brophy "fuck art, lets dance"
The Mu Meson Archives
email: meson@ihug.com.au
phone: 9517 2010