We were lucky to catch up with Joua-Chia Lo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Joua-Chia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

As an artist, I feel like every moment matters. And I’m not referring to just the moments artists spend on their craft. I’m referring to every waking moment in the real world that has an influence on what our minds want to depict. Just like many famous artists have shown, the way we feel about life and how we process the everyday motions of it truly impacts the tone of the artwork, the message to convey, and the historical contexts of where it fits within our society.

I look at all my artwork as separate pieces of my identity, they hold great value in depicting a vision from within my mind, thus how I see the world. I see my artwork as a timeline of my life, the different challenges, obstacles, and successes I’ve had. I’d say the most meaningful project I’ve worked on was my piece, What lives inside (acrylic, 2021). This painting is a large canvas that displays a young woman squatting down and looking towards the audience. The background of the painting is the subject’s black hair flowing throughout the space, taking up the entirety of the background. I wanted to depict the vulnerability of stillness through this piece. Stillness has always been something that leaves me unsettled and on edge. Therefore, I wanted to challenge myself to envision the beauty of stillness, how it doesn’t always need to be seen as unsettling.

At the time, I was feeling isolated and stuck with the life I had built for myself. I was in an unhealthy romantic relationship at the time that made me question my entire identity. I started this painting in hopes to find clarity about myself and the ever changing shifts that took place within my identities. The duration of this painting was about the start of my romantic relationship becoming toxic and finished once I was freshly single. Within that time, I had many hardships with completing this painting. Every moment I spent on it was one that challenged me to start digging deeper into myself, and truth be told, I felt like that was impossible for me. I’ve always described myself as confident and self-assured. But this painting made me realize how I’d lost myself so much within the romantic relationship I was previously in. My individuality and complexity of myself was shrunk down into this girl I hadn’t seen in a long time. I had come face-to-face with my core inner child. It was a humbling realization but one that has stayed with me to this day.

When coming up with the concept for depicting stillness, I didn’t have a face or identity in mind that I wanted to attach this story. I just grabbed my brush, dipped it into some paint and let it flow out of me. I’ve always used my craft as a means of expressing myself and how I feel. Therefore, I trusted the process even if I didn’t have all the pieces to fill in the blanks. I’ve gotten tons of reviews about this piece that it looks like a self portrait of myself. And I think that speaks higher volumes about the reality of my artwork, I always create what I’m feeling. The fact that I had unconsciously created a portrait of a woman that I could identify with just brought tears to my eyes. This painting process had not only exposed true colors about my personal life but also reassured me that being an artist is an identity that will never change. I learned more about myself than I could have ever imagined. This painting reminds me that there is beauty in having a balance of stillness and chaos in my life. It reminds me to continue to be brave yet vulnerable, to trust my intuition, and to acknowledge that all versions of myself are loved and valued.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am an Asian American feminist artist who currently resides in Saint Paul, MN. I attended Augsburg University and received a bachelors degree in psychology and minor in studio arts. My work consists of drawings, paintings, and digital works. I like to discuss a lot of themes such as identity, race, culture, and sexuality through my modern-day expressionism artwork. I specifically focus on how color, shapes, textures, and movement provoke emotional sensations throughout my work.

I’ve always identified as an artist. I’ve relied on art as the main way of communicating and expressing myself to the world since I was five. I’d say I didn’t start taking my craft as a serious career until around thirteen years of age. Ever since then, I’ve pursued my craft with means to show the world my perspectives.

I think what makes me different from other visual artists is that I always tie in emotional relevance into my artwork. I try to capture the essence of my subjects rather than just the physical qualities. I focus on the beauty of imperfections of humans rather than the ideal values of what humans are to be perceived as.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I’d say the most rewarding aspect about being an artist is seeing how relatable my pieces can be to my viewers/audience. It fills my heart with so much joy when I hear that someone can either feel the emotions I put into my work or if they explicitly say that they felt different emotions and feelings when looking at my artwork. In today’s society, I feel like feelings and emotions are looked down upon for expressing out loud. If anything, I hope that every audience that views my work can start feeling something and therefore, start openly acknowledging the beauty of vulnerability. I create to provoke emotional sensations and with that I hope people take the next step in conversing about how it makes them feel.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Yes, I have a mission to show that vulnerability and openness to expressing emotions is essential in every human life. As a passionate advocate for mental health, I believe expressing oneself is important. I hope to challenge the societies views on being emotional and get more people to want to discuss the ever lasting problems we have due to the lack of emotions within our society. I believe there is an imbalance in rationality and emotionality. We as a society, need both in order to have more meaningful conversations on quality of life for everyone. I do believe that with more practices of emotional intelligence in the world this place could become a safer and more secure environment for future generations to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jewahlo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewahlo/

Image Credits
Kelly Xiong Joua-Chia Lo