Jimmy Grima is an artist and theatremaker. He creates drawings, graphics, texts, multimedia installations, theatre and events. Originally from Malta (b.1989), nature and her ghosts are frequently intertwined with daily life. His practice is also concerned with the politics of memory, historiography, remembrance and archiving; the vernacular and the marginal are central to his interests.
In 2009 together with a group of people, he founded the rubberbodies collective, which transformed into an independent theatre and art group in Malta. He contributed as a director and co-author of visual theatre performances, installations, interventions and publications.
In 2015 he led the Wind-Rose Project (“Il-Warda Tar-Riħ”), a multi-site research project which recovered the lore of the winds from farmers, bakers, fishermen and amateurs.
In 2017 he started Song of a Bird, researching the now-outlawed micro-community of Maltese bird trappers.
In 2018, he moved to Amsterdam to follow the master’s programme at DAS at the University of Arts. There he developed a side practice of unpacking the contents of boxes in the attic. As a “‘caretaker’ Jimmy has been creating the DAS Arts Archive.
Kerogen Voices (2020) is his graduation project that deals with the phenomena of human-made earthquakes, combing myth and scientific data. Back in Malta, he explored the notion of Explosions in Kaxxa Infernali: Explosions (2021).
2022 Awarded PhD Scholarship – the University of Malta – Theatre Studies MT
2021 Nominated for The ZKB Acknowledgment Prize Zürcher Theater Spektakel CH
2021 3Package Deal (2020-2021) Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst/ Bureau Broedwoningen, NL
2020 Associate Artist Teatru Malta, National Theatre, MT
2019 Winner with the rubberbodies collective of The ZKB Acknowledgment Prize Zürcher Theater Spektakel CH