We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Dillavou. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.

Jasmine, appreciate you joining us today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

Over the past 6 years creating art in our city, I have come across a lot of different perspectives, expectations and opinions about how and what I create. Often times, I believe, there’s an expectation for Womxn and POC creatives to create a very specific type of art. Folks either want you to create work about strife, to present sad and painful art that centers a story of frustration and heartache. They want work that gives the viewers a gateway to your grief. Sometimes. And then there’s viewers that are tired of it. They don’t want to see work about how hard it is living in a female body, growing up poor, brown etc. They are tired of us complaining on their walls. In almost every performance piece I have shared about my experiences/my body/my life, there is at least one person that feels as though it does not represent them and they don’t understand and they don’t wanna see it. I think its a learning experience-an opportunity.

These interactions encourage me to continue to make art about my very real life-to see it as a beautiful opportunity to elevate the experiences I know. To educate viewers, to hold our community accountable. I don’t believe in upholding the expectation that everyone needs access to my pain or my stories, but I WANT to be vulnerable and open to make safe spaces for other’s vulnerability to be accepted.
Not everyone is gunna get it, it turns out. Some people are gunna get ruffled feathers. That’s ok. That’s a wonderful opportunity.

Jasmine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Boricua mixed-media artist, curator, Creative Director, community activist and studio assistant based out of Colorado Springs. I received my BA in Visual and Performing Arts from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and have since shown in numerous exhibitions across the United States. My artwork often explores themes of visibility within Caribbean Diaspora identities. From intimate performance pieces to immersive installations, I want to share stories of liberation, decolonization, and femininity through a personal lens. In 2018, I helped develop an underground pop-up dinner program with Chefs Ian Dedrickson and Adam Riddens. We created immersive food and art experiences that now live in a our brick-and-mortar “Ephemera” in downtown Colorado Springs. In this space, I get the incredible privilege of working alongside resident artists to make transformable spaces for our guests. It feels like a gift and it keeps me on my toes. Alongside this work, I have been invited to assist with multiple art organizations in our community including the Fine Arts Center, Gallery of Contemporary Arts, Bee Vradenburg Foundation, Pikes Peak Arts Council, Bemis School of Art and the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region. It feels like an honor to be invited into the organizations that build our community in such beautiful ways. My hopes are to help grow our Arts Community into this incredible and alive thing that boasts diversity, equity and graciousness for creatives.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The best way to support artists and create a thriving creative ecosystem comes down to simply showing up. You literally do not need to throw tons of money at artists- even though that’s totally amazing and please do that sometimes… What creatives need right now are audiences. We need folks to turn up on First Friday and ask questions, to attend critiques and cultivate conversation. Nobody is making into the void on purpose. We are making art to share stories, to keep our hearts alive.
If you can not be present in person, be present in the next most important place- social media. Social media is 80% of an artist’s universe during this Pandemic world. Retweet the work, show up for the Zoom Poetry reading-whatever it is. Be present. Instead of sharing memes or writing bad Yelp Reviews, share local art works, spread the word about your friends opening. You are not allowed to complain about the community if you are unwilling to participate or contribute to it. It keeps your city alive and beautiful and well when you do. Show up and share,

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is getting to create platforms where people see themselves. As an upcoming creative in college, I would fall in love with artworks at galleries and feel like, ” oh my god, someone kinda gets this. I know how this feels and I relate.” That’s magic right there. I want to do that-forever-for others. The stories I want to tell matter, they matter to me and I know they matter for others because our lives are precious and valuable and terrifying and we go to the Art so we may ask to be seen and understood.

That’s the whole point, So if I can do the work and make spaces for viewers to see themselves, to make walls for artists to express themselves or be part of assisting in decision making where doors open for others- then that is the reward. I’ve totally won. And that expands and changes overtime so it’s sort of the motivating factor to keep doing all this.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jasminedillavou.com
• Instagram: JasminerunswithScissors
• Facebook: Art by Jasmine Dillavou // Dillavou Curation LLC

Image Credits
Stellar Propeller Studio Dennis Nejtek Robert Grey

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