ARW: Yo, Jack! Congratulations on winning the 2nd Place prize for our first call, the space in between! And of course, I hope you’ve been doing well! Actually, let’s just start there. How you been, boo? This past year has been a wild one.

 

JY: Well, first, I want to thank you both, Jennifer and André, for this wonderful opportunity to share my work. I don’t often feel compelled to share much of what I write, but this call for entry moved me to do so, and it’s been wonderful having y’all’s support. 

 

It’s definitely been a wild year, to say the least, but while I write I breathe. And when I can’t catch my breath, I try to crawl outside my mind and ground myself in something else, something tangible, whether it’s having an espresso shot, calling my mom, or listening to music I find calming. 

 

ARW: Yo, thank you! We’re so happy to share your work with our audience and honored that our first call spoke to you. It’s amazing that we get the chance to amplify work like yours!

 

I love that your practice is something that works in tandem with you. Finding ways to ground yourself seems to be more and more important as we get older; learning and experiencing new things can be so draining. We gotta take care of ourselves, so I’m glad to know you’re actively implementing ways to do that! It’s so inspiring.

 

Aight, now how about we first get an introduction to you, and this goes far beyond just your artwork. Do you mind telling us about yourself?

 

JY: I find I’m pretty self-deprecating when people ask about me and who I am, which I’m sure has to do with me being quite shy and awkward unless I know the person I’m talking to. I guess I’d start by saying I’m empathetic to my core. I often understand why people feel the things they do, and I’m super self-aware of why I experience particular emotions. 

 

I was bullied as a teenager and was lucky to find a therapist that helped me understand myself from the inside and outside, which has been great as a young adult, when so many experiences, relationships, and situations can be intense and ambiguous. I know I certainly wouldn’t be where I am without having been in therapy at fifteen.

 

On a less serious note, I used to figure skate competitively as a child. One of my routines was to Lenny Kravitz’s song, American Woman. I also played competitive tennis for about five years after I stopped skating. Serena Williams was and is my favorite player of all time, and she’s who I tried shaping my game after. I saw her play in 2008 and 2013 in Charleston, South Carolina, and those are some of my favorite memories. 

 

I’m also heavily invested in women in rap music. Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks inspired me to get into making music over ten years ago. While I know I’m certainly not on many people’s radar as a rapper, I know I couldn’t have ever released my own music without their talents, skills, and artistry. 

 

And more recently, I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design in August of 2020 with a B.F.A. in writing and minor in creative writing.

 

ARW: Thank you for being open with us about your past as well. FUCK those bullies. I hate that you had to deal with shitty people like that, but glad that you found a therapist that could help you work through that time in your life. From personal experience, I know that mental health and emotional well-being is one of most difficult things to navigate, especially without someone or something to help guide you through it.

 

But… holy shit, you really are a bad bitch, Jack, and I mean it! I mean, if you can’t tell, we’re not a very athletic duo (lmaoooo), but even if we were, figure skating and tennis are two sports that require too much precision and skill for us to tackle. Also, we weren’t even aware that you made music!! Shout outs to you and  your vast abilities, including earning your degree! You’re like the RPG character that everyone needs on their team. 

 

It seems like you enjoy so many different ways of making stuff and expressing your personhood! What got you hooked on writing?

 

JY: I journaled in middle school before the bullying I experienced reached its peak, but I soon  abandoned it. I don’t remember why I felt inclined to journal in the first place, but once I picked up writing again, around the same time I started therapy, poetry fell out of me. I knew nothing about writing poems and thought all of my writing had to rhyme. I wrote so many terrible poems as a teenager that would make me cringe if I saw them today, but that’s part of my story. Looking back, I needed to keep my pain and trauma somewhere else besides in my mind and body; writing poems helped me put my rage and sadness in a place that was ultimately safe.

 

As for songwriting, I’ve always loved music and rhyming made more sense in that space, especially in rap music, and that eventually led me to write my own lyrics and study other rappers and their flows.

 

ARW: Ah, I see! I’m really glad that you ended up being able to use poetry to help get you through some of the negative aspects of reality you were facing. I really think getting your feelings and thoughts out through making art is an experience unlike any other. Something about creating a thing so authentically is so unique… but it also can be so decipherable. It’s kind of like it’s own language, ya know?

 

On the note of making art, all of the poems you submitted were incredible, truly. After reading your first entry, Jesus & Pontius Pilate at the Laundromat, Jen and I were hooked—it was like we were standing with you, seeing and feeling everything you’d written. Where are you hoping to take your reader? Or, is that even in mind when you write?

 

JY: I feel as a poet, it’s my job to give readers a map, then let them take their own journey or trajectory to wherever they want or need to go. With Jesus & Pontius Pilate at the Laundromat, there are many places the reader could go, but I ultimately think the reader will read the poem as though Jesus is speaking to Pontius or vice versa. The beauty, or horror, in that poem is that one can read it either way or take it completely different. Good writing is entertaining. Great writing makes you think and takes you places. I hope to always be a good writer, though I aspire to make people think, and, if I may be so bold, I think both poems included in this exhibition do that.