We recently connected with Arizah Thompson and have shared our conversation below.

Arizah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The moment I realized I wanted to pursue a career in the arts was way before I acted on it. During my junior year of high school I took my first photography class in addition to being in choir, theater, and fashion design. Being taught how a camera works from a professional standpoint made the learning a lot more meaningful. With me being in multiple classes pertaining to creative outlets I genuinely felt the arts were something I could enjoy long term. Beginning my college career i started within the psychology department and it wasn’t until my second semester that i decided to return to the arts and began a pursuing a studio art degree.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I got into the arts, photography specifically, my junior year of high school and all other creative outlets followed suit. From that point I gained experience in fashion design, printmaking, ceramics, as well as expanding my experience in painting and drawing. In addition to my focus being photography I also greatly enjoy creating music and writing poetry both of which I hold myself to the same standards as I do my art. The way I am able to incorporate my poetry and music into my photography I find refreshing and it expands my idea of what each form can be. No matter what i create nor the medium, i always make sure that who I am as an artist and as a person and what I stand for, can shine through without commentary.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I began my college career in 2017 which was solidifying my choice to pursue the arts. Around 2019 I began losing interest in the work I was creating and felt it lacked meaning. Spring of 2020 I decided to take what was supposed to be a single semester, away from school but due to COVID 19 that semester turned into 2 years. I had almost no interest in returning to college and hadn’t created during almost the entirety of that break. Due to some other life circumstances I had free time and told myself if I didn’t have any plans why not return to school. From that point I spent the last 2 years of my degree dedicating hours of riding transit just to get to campus. I went from taking 2 years away from school to graduating and finishing my arts degree within another 2 years. We all have the time I just had to realize how to properly dedicate mine to things I deem important.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I had to unlearn is how to receive critique. For a while every critique of my work I would react poorly to due to how personal the work I create is. Although sometimes critiques can come from a place of bias I had to teach myself that isn’t always the case. The first couple of years of me pursuing art were filled with an awful lot of imposter syndrome. I felt that my art had to look like the art I enjoyed and if it didn’t that I was failing as an artist. Learning how to allow the helpful information to register and the unhelpful to flow on was a defining moment in what being an artist is for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://arizaht.com
• Instagram: airisayent
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/airisayent
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arizaht
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@air-is-ay

Image Credits

All rights reserved to Arizah Thompson