Jax Jaz and other names
LA Based Artist
Jaz(x) is an LA based artist who works mainly in painting but is known to dabble in poetry, video projects and digital art. Born and raised in LA she is influenced by the colorful scenery of downtown and the graffiti art of South Central where she spent most of her adolescence. Jaz(x)'s artwork deals with fantastical themes such as monsters, emotionally consumed beings, femininity, nature and depression.
Contact: Jazbryant3@gmail.com
Artist Statement
Whiteness as an ideology ran especially rampant this year as day after day disgusting views on black respectability politics and ‘don’t bite the hand that feeds you’ rhetoric cast blame on those murdered and oppressed by systemic racism and not the murderers themselves. I became enthralled by the concept of whiteness, ideologically and quite literally. I started a series of photographs, video vignettes and music pertaining to the ideals associated with whiteness. My work now focuses on learned color associations pertaining to black and white, in childhood imagery, design and written works. I am also interested in the historical and present assimilation of the black body into a palatable version for white consumption and critique. Slave mythology and the portrayal of enslaved and resurrected bodies emerging as beautiful beings intertwined with nature to become ethereal life forces, is another layer of my art practice. My artwork is a research project on the lie that is postcoloniality and the void of the unknown that connects me, an ‘African American’ a Black person, to a ‘homeland’ I have no recollection of. My artwork is an attempt to unravel the veil of twisted American textbook history and ‘decolonize’ my understanding of whiteness, slavery, history and home.
CV
Jazmyn Bryant
(213)841-9439
Jazbryant3@gmail.com
Education
2021 BA (pending) University of California Berkeley, Berkeley,CA (expected graduation May 2021)
Grants/Awards
2016 Yes! Magazine Spring Powerful Voice Winner
2017 KASP/TAAP Scholarship Award, Berkeley, CA
2017 Singer Scholarship Award, Berkeley, CA
2018 Leadership Award, Berkeley, CA
2019 Leadership Award, Berkeley, CA
Exhibitions
2019 Group Exhibition, BlackGirlHealing: THIS Sh*T IS FOR US, Art Exhibition, Fannie Lou Hamer Resource Center, Berkeley, A C
2020 Group Exhibition, Student show University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Curatorial Projects
2020 Senior showcase, co-curator, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (online show)
2021 Black Student Union community showcase (pending), University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (online show)
2021 Spring Student Leadership Committee debut showcase (pending), University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA (online show)
Organizations
2017-2018 Intern, Black Student Union, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley,CA
2019-2021 Communications Director, Black Student Union, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley,CA
2020-2021 Art Practice Student Collaborative, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley,CA
Teaching Experience
2018-20 Poetry For The People, student teacher poet, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Gallery Experience
2019-20 Gallery intern, preparator, library intern ,WorthRyder Gallery, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA