JAX is an interdisciplinary artist from Los Angeles, CA.
JAX works in performance, creative writing, video, sculpture, sound, and installation. Hair, specifically Marley and Kanekelon braiding hair, is used as a medium to express commonality and communal practices, performing as a conduit to the greater web of her maternal ancestry. JAX takes the common idea of "becoming your Mother" and reimagines it in a Sci-fi and spiritualistic context, using her personal history as a backbone to the poetics in her work. Through years of synthesizing various performances, videos and installations, she has birthed a living practice of intraconnection. Each project is built off of and informs the previous one in a conversational tug and pull between the past and present.
She is an alumni at UC Berkeley, where she received her B.A in Art Practice, African American Studies and Creative Writing. She is also a graduate of UC San Diego, receiving her MFA in Visual Arts.
JAX works in performance, creative writing, video, sculpture, sound, and installation. Hair, specifically Marley and Kanekelon braiding hair, is used as a medium to express commonality and communal practices, performing as a conduit to the greater web of her maternal ancestry. JAX takes the common idea of "becoming your Mother" and reimagines it in a Sci-fi and spiritualistic context, using her personal history as a backbone to the poetics in her work. Through years of synthesizing various performances, videos and installations, she has birthed a living practice of intraconnection. Each project is built off of and informs the previous one in a conversational tug and pull between the past and present.
She is an alumni at UC Berkeley, where she received her B.A in Art Practice, African American Studies and Creative Writing. She is also a graduate of UC San Diego, receiving her MFA in Visual Arts.
CV
Education
2021 BA University of California Berkeley
2024 MFA University of California San Diego
Grants/Awards
2016 Yes! Magazine Spring Powerful Voice Winner, Los Angeles, CA
2017 KASP/TAAP Scholarship Award, Berkeley, CA
2017 Singer Scholarship Award, Berkeley, CA
2018 & 2019 Leadership Award, Berkeley, CA
2021 Art Projects Grant, Berkeley, CA
2021 UCSD MFA Fellowship, San Diego, CA
2023 Black Studies Project Travel Grant, San Diego, CA
Exhibitions
2019 Group Exhibition, BlackGirlHealing: THIS Sh*T IS FOR US, Art Exhibition, Fannie Lou Hamer Resource Center, Berkeley, CA
2020 Group Exhibition, Student Senior show, Pocket WRAG, University of California Berkeley
2020 Group Exhibition, In Commemoration of 2020, Artsteps, University of California Berkeley
2022 Group Exhibition, Tether , University of California San Diego
2022 Group Exhibition, Frieze: San Diego, Main Gallery, University of California San Diego
2022 Group Exhibition, The Sun Doesn’t Mean to be so Hot, West Gallery, Cal State Northridge
2022 Group Exhibition, Vis Drawing Showcase, SME, University of California San Diego
2022 Solo performance, For All You’ve Done For Me, Commons Gallery, University of California San Diego
2023 Solo Show, Thank you, kindly, Performance Space Gallery, University of California San Diego
2024 Group Exhibition, Material Intimacies, Bread & Salt Gallery, San Diego California
2024 Group Exhibition, NOT NOW BUT NOW, Mandeville Gallery, University of California San Diego
2024 Group Exhibition, NextGen 2024, Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego California
2024 Group Exhibition, A Handful of Fog, Ellit Hundley’s studio, Los Angeles California
2024 MFA Thesis Solo Show Exhibition, Carpal Tunnel Crick Cracks in the Tendons of My Flexors: These Hands Will Never Be the Same, Performance Space Gallery, University of California San Diego
Curatorial Projects
2020 Senior showcase: Paradigm Shift, University of California Berkeley (online show)
2021 Black Student Union community showcase , University of California Berkeley (online show)
2021 Spring Student Leadership Committee debut showcase , University of California Berkeley (online show)
2022 Abandoned Undergraduate Showcase, University of California San Diego (permanent installation)
2022- The Shape of Films, Performance Space, University of California San Diego
Organizations
2017-2018 Intern, Black Student Union, University of California Berkeley
2019-2021 Communications Director, Black Student Union, University of California Berkeley
2020-2021 Board Member, Art Practice Student Collaborative, University of California Berkeley
2017-2018 Events Intern, Gender Equity Resource Center, University of California Berkeley
2021- Ms.Demeaner, independent group
2021- The IUD’s, independent performance group
Teaching Experience
2018-20 Poetry For The People, student teacher poet, University of California Berkeley
2021-24 Graduate Student Instructor, University of California San Diego
Gallery Experience
2019-20 Gallery library intern ,Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2020-21 Gallery preparator intern, Worth Ryder gallery, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
2021-21 Programs & Exhibitions intern, Southern Exposure, San Francisco CA
2022 Facilities intern, UC San Diego
