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Interview by Valerie Fair

Artists On The Cutting Edge:  Tell me a little about how you got into the arts?

 

Sydney G. James:  I’ve been drawing since I was 3.  My kindergarten art teacher advised my parents to get me into extensive art classes when I was of age.  Essentially, I’m a lifelong artist.

 

AOTCE:  What school did you attend and was it beneficial to your development as an artist?

 

SGJ:  I graduated from Cass Technical High School in 1997 where Commercial Art was my curriculum.  I then attended and received my BFA from College for Creative Studies in 2001.

 

AOTCE:  Did becoming an artist change your perspective or the way you see events?

 

SGJ:  That’s a tricky question because I’ve never been anything else but an artist.  So, I see things how I see them.

 

AOTCE:  I see that you do a lot of mural work.  Can it be said that murals are your primary way of engagement or do you create on canvas too?

 

SGJ:  I paint on canvas and draw mainly.  I’ve been painting murals for 3 years now.  I do try to keep my murals in line with my regular body of work.

AOTCE:  As a woman artist do you hear the old axiom, that women cannot do murals because it is too dirty, too hot, too much work, etc. and how do you handle those with that point of view?

 

SGJ:  As a woman artist, people are definitely shocked to see me painting murals, they’re perplexed that I do them without the help of others and also that I’m so high up on a scaffold or lift, unafraid.  I am sarcastic and have a bit of unorthodox behavior in general so I answer stupid question with honest condescending answers. Other: “You doin this?”  ME:  “Well, I am the one up here and holding this paint brush, sooooo yeah, I’m the one doing this.”   Other: “I thought a man was doin this!  You paint good for a girl.”  ME:  Leave me alone sir.  I’m working.”

 

AOTCE:  Was the subject matter, “woman empowerment” always your subject of choice or did you come to it after your understanding of the world and how it worked?

 

SGJ:  I’ve been on the “black woman empowerment” thing for about 2-3 years, after I saw the video of a girl that got attacked by the police outside of the pool party.  The girl getting attacked by the cop in the classroom and the Sandra Bland video.  I found my journey.

 

AOTCE:  Have you gained support for your point of view or is it contested by others?  Does it matter what others think?

 

SGJ:  I think anything that’s worth an effort or viewing is going to be supported and contested.  So, a bit of both.  What others think don’t matter.  Their words or actions may bother me or get to me but it only makes me go harder and be more aggressive with my work.  I want people to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

 

AOTCE:  Do you ever envision doing anything else?

 

SGJ:  Nope.  A friend of mine who is a dope musician and said to me recently.  “There is no retirement “plan” for us.  Retirement for us is death.”

 

 

AOTCE:  Is art simply about being a voice in the wilderness, holding a mirror, seeing the future or is it something else?

 

SGJ:  Art for me is showing the beautifully ugly truths the world has to offer in the hopes to make positive changes.

 

AOTCE:  Where do you “grow” from where you are?

 

SGJ:  I grow daily.  I’ll never reach my best because I’ll never be at my best although I strive for that daily.  Essentially, there’s always a lesson.  Currently I’m in the state of “how and what will be my legacy?”

 

AOTCE:  Being so young, how is it possible that you are already thinking about legacy?

 

SGJ:  I’m not that young lol.

 

 

We all can take a collective sign of relief because even when mainstream media is telling us that the next generation is only focused on the material things in life, we can easily look around and know differently.  Within the coming generation and coming on strong is artist Sydney G. James.  Sydney not only puts her defiant works on canvas but she takes her art directly to the streets in the form of murals.  Read about this inspired breed of young womanhood.  Sydney has learned the lessons of the past and takes a evolved vision into the future.  Valerie Fair

 

Sydney G. James

Photography by Lamar Landers

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