Neither is art. Pt. 1
Neither is art is a conversation with Joladé, the creator behind we right here, to learn more about his work.
Q: Who and/or what has influenced your work the most? And why?
A: It's hard to say who or what exactly because I can't even recall what started me off in general. But if I had to think about it, it would be books and then by extension my mother who got me into books.
My mother was big on education but also stimulus. She tells me I had a book in hand from 1 years old. So I read everything I could get my hands on. Moving to Nigeria at a young age put me in a world of loneliness for a long time. I was the eldest sibling in a country where electricity was a scarce thing in our community.
All I had was books. And from books came world building. I'd build fantasies from what I wished my life was like and the adventures I wanted to have. Eventually I started writing these fantasies down in story form. I'd read all the books in my library (and my mother's too, despite them being law related, Readers Digests and John Grisham novels) and needed new things to read outside of vinyl and CD covers around the house.
So I wrote my stories and because I had a wild imagination, I wrote so many. I still do.
I was curious about where my mind could do. Years later, it's the same. Even medium I work in is fulled by curiosity. I want to know more. And to know I have to see. To see, I have to go. And my mother, I guess, was always encouraging me to go the distance in her own indirect way.
Q: What impact do you want your work to have?
A: At the core of my work is a desire for people to feel something. Modern ways of living and working aren't fueled by feeling. Neither is art in my opinion. There are some who do keep pushing the envelope and create art that sparks genuine human emotion but for the most part it's all flash in the pan, short lived pieces or...content. There's a lack of respect or consideration for the process of making art which cheapens it and encourages a wasteful practice of content creation.
Even worse that many companies spend a lot of money (or little due to not appreciating the true cost of the creative process and livelihoods of creators) on content creation consistently for things to be forgotten so quickly in the name of being viral. I'm not aiming for the numbers. I'm aiming for the heart.I want to make what lasts. For it to last, it must be felt. So I'm trying to make what makes people pause. What gives them rest, enough time to remember their humanity and reconnect (or connect for the first time) with the world around them.
On a selfish level, I want people to see what I see and want more of what I do. On a more conscious level, I want my work to encourage other budding creatives (old and young). Coming from a background where I wasn't allowed to be creative, I find my life to be a sort of beautiful rebellion against the forces that really didn't want me to be. So I'd like to make it easier for the kids coming up next.
I'd like my work to provoke more people into the arts and encourage the creation of viable opportunities in said arts too. I'd also like my work to challenge what it means to be artist. I'm self taught in a lot of what I specialise in. And I want others to know its okay.
