We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jianna Barnett a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jianna, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.
From the moment i was was able to comprehend what was goin on around me my parents introduced me to the arts. I was put into a multitude of after-school programs involving academics, music and visual arts. They made sure u was exposed to a wide spectrum of hobbies and that i was never bored, there was always something do, someone to meet, something to learn; because of this i grew very curious and artistically adventurous. My view on the world was important and i have every right to share it, they always supported my artistic abilities even when others would judge me for them. The moment i told my parents i wanted to be a photographer they brought me my first digital camera and constantly poured into me and pushing me to take the camera with me everywhere i go. “Don’t forget your camera jiji” is a quote I’ve heard from the age of 14 till this day and i never do. In addition to them uplifting my creativity they also always made sure i was safe and secure in my Black identity. As Jamaican immigrants they understood how hard it is to not only be black in America but to also come from a home of immigrants. They taught me to never be ashamed of my skin, my hair, and my ethnicity. Growing up around this abundance of blackness and creativity molded me into the person i am today.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was born in the Bronx New York but was raised in Yonkers New York. I was raised in a Jamaican household that took the arts very seriously. In my house you could never be bored, my mom told me that there was always something to do whether its play the piano, paint, draw, or even just listening to music. If you are surrounded by the arts there is no reason you should be bored. This began my love for the arts. My first love was painting, through out my high school career my plan for college was to go to school for fine arts but my sophomore year of high school i fell in love with photography. I never took my photography serious until late last year and i haven’t looked back since. Not only do they conserve memories but they can also tell a story and i find that incredibly beautiful. I grew an obsession with taking pictures of my friends whenever i felt they looked beautiful; even if they don’t see their own beauty. I also grew a love for capturing people in their full essence and using my photography as a reminder to them how beautiful they are. Most of my work consist of black people because i feel that within the art world whether fine or digital arts we are underrepresented. I want to go into an art museum and see a room full of black beauty captured in a multitude of mediums and not just as an exhibit for black history month but something year round. Thats why i made it my mission to shine a light on the beautiful people around me whether its with paint or a camera.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
There are a few thing we can all do as a collective to not only support our creatives but to keep the arts alive. First thing is to just engage with it. Visit your local art Gallery, support your local small artist, invest in and buy art. Any type of support is noticed and appreciated whether it is financial or even just spreading the word about the artist and their skills. To really help sustain a thriving creative ecosystem is to stop teaching our youth to hate the arts. Children are being taught that a career in Arts and Humanities is a waste of time but it is quite the opposite. This world would be absolutely nothing without our arts and our humanities and we shouldn’t be teaching our youth to shy away from the arts because of potential financial difficulty. Though the concern is real, there are an infinite amount of opportunities within the arts that can sustain you if you look out for it, put your self out there and make connections. i think starting from the root and teaching our future generation that point of view instead of totally disregarding the arts and only uplifting S.T.E.M would help the creative ecosystem tremendously
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson i had to unlearn was that i in a way had to live for other people. Growing up i was always taught to hide my true feelings in order to spare someone else’s. My parents were very authoritarian causing me to constantly have to put on an act to please them, this dynamic leaked into my other relationships, platonic, romantic and business wise. Because i picked up these people pleasing tendencies it took me a very long time to learn to live for me. Yes it is good to have compassion for others and their feelings but you also have to have compassion for yourself. Never feel that you have to dim your light or put on a facade in order for people to love you. There are people who will adore and accept you just as you are without you having to empty your cup to fill up theirs. Until you find those people all you have is yourself and God so why not live your life for you.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Inaworldofsonder
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jianna-barnett-37939229b
