JAZZ GRANT & IDENTITY THROUGH COLLAGE

There’s a sense of precision and physicality with her work that leaves you inescapable from being drawn in — worlds begging to be explored, with nuances scattered throughout that become more apparent the longer you stare. At the core of this is a synergy between escapism and real-world narratives, where topics like identity, culture and personal experiences all intertwine. It's this artistic approach that’s seen Jazz Grant make notable noise within the artistic world, going from strength to strength as she constantly refines and broadens her creative output. From her breathtaking collage work — which has led to her being commissioned for Jay-Z’s ‘The Book of HOV’ exhibition at Brooklyn Public Library — to her stop-motion animation work, Jazz Grant’s creative world is one that’s ever-evolving and expanding, driven by her ceaseless artistic curiosity.

In light of that, UrlfreezeShops took a trip to Margate to visit Jazz Grant at her studio, where we delved deep into her creative practice and joined her as she demonstrated her collage process in the flesh.

What initially appealed to you about collage as a medium?

It was basically a really easy way to just be creative in a quick and cheap way. I was studying fashion when I started to use collage as a medium, and I was struggling with my drawing skills, so really it was another way of exploring my creativity without any feeling of pressure. So yeah, there’s always a lot of freedom to it.

You came to collage after studying fashion originally — what induced that change of creative direction? Has this background had an impact on your artistic work?

It’s quite funny because I didn’t choose to stop doing fashion — fashion was never actually a good fit for me. I considered myself as making collages to accompany my fashion design, and I was trying to work in the industry. I was working with a lot of small, amazing designers in London, but you can only ever get so far, especially if you want to do something creative. So I was actually finding it really difficult and I couldn’t find my place in the fashion industry; I was working several side jobs in that time to help support myself. I was making these collages and giving myself more and more time with them. When the pandemic hit, it took away all my side jobs and possibility to work in fashion, so I was given the opportunity to work on my collages more. I didn’t decide to leave fashion, but I had a departure from it and once it happened, suddenly things made sense to me — I realised this is what I am meant to be doing. Before that, I put a lot of pressure on myself to work in fashion — I thought I would be a failure if I didn’t work in the fashion industry. So, I am really grateful to be able to work outside of that space.

What I liked about fashion was researching and finding lines, forms and textures, and that’s essentially what I still do now. I approach imagery with that same mind, I’m just not thinking about a garment at the end. I love fashion and garment construction, I just don’t necessarily fit within that industry. I see elements of what I love about fashion coming in more and more — I like the idea of bringing in different textures, fabrics and stitching, really just expanding the textile processes.

Where does your creative process begin? Do you find that your works are born from chance encounters with materials that you find, or does the concept dictate the images that you are looking for? 

I find that interesting because it’s always different and changing. The best way to answer that is to look at what I’m working on right now. When I started, it was whatever I found in a charity shop — basically, they would have all of these books with really nice imagery. I worked like that for a while, but recently I realised I wanted to be more specific with what I wanted to research and discover. I was thinking about different areas of what I am drawn to and why. So what I am working with now is coming from film stills, whether that be feature films, documentaries or archival films, alongside found books. The found aspect of imagery means you have to make do with what you’ve got. I like having constraints, because if you have too many options it makes it impossible to start. Archival films are different because they’re there for a purpose, and they’re talking about something I want to look at. What’s really interesting is going to random charity shops in Margate and finding a book that feels like something I want to work with, and seeing what comes from it.

UrlfreezeShops: So there’s an element of spontaneity but you are working within some parameters?

Jazz: Yeah, I’ll pick up a book and flick through it, and basically, it’s like emotional or instinctual. I’ll look through it and there will be images which will make me feel a certain way, it might be texture, tone or silhouette, but if I feel that way enough times, I’ll feel it’s then worth buying the book.

I’ve read that your mother is an artist, and you were brought up with art having a particular presence in your life from a young age. How has her work as an artist influenced your own creative output?

So, my mum is definitely my number one inspiration and support. She was studying at Glasgow School of Art when she had me, so my first accent was actually Glaswegian. She was doing her degree in fine art in Glasgow, and she got pregnant and had me in London, then went back to finish her degree in Glasgow. We then went to Brighton when she did her MA, so I have a lot of memories of ad hoc exhibitions with her friends, all doing really cool things. She can draw or paint anything, as well as work with collage, which recently hit me that I work in similar ways to what she has done. As a family, my dad is also a writer, so they were trying to show us as much art as possible when we were younger — we would go the Tate loads for the day. Experiences of art were always something fun to do, I never thought about it in the way of the art industry or something to sell. For me, it was always about the experience and for fun. I always knew I wanted to do something creative, but I didn’t really know how. I wasn’t confident with my drawing, so therefore I thought I couldn’t be an artist, but my mum would encourage me with whatever I was doing. She still makes art and we talk about both our work a lot. It’s a privilege to be able to have that — parents who get art generally — which can always be difficult for young creatives.

Identity — either the obfuscation or celebration of it — seems to be a common thread that ties your work together, with people occupying the worlds you create either as silhouettes or with fully recognisable faces. What is it about depicting identity that you are drawn to?

For me, with everything that I do, I am gravitating towards imagery that generally gives a sense of my personal identity, but in an abstract way. Ideally, I want my figures to be silhouettes or obstructed in some way, because as a viewer you can project yourself onto that or remind you of people, rather than just shutting it down. It gives you the opportunity to intertwine your own story with the work. But that’s what’s interesting about humans, everyone comes with their own personal history, where you’ve landed is determined by everything you’ve experienced before, like films, dreams, desires, nightmares, everything. It sounds so broad but the aspects of all of those things trigger something that I want to make.

Why do you think collage particularly lends itself to a celebration of identity than other medium?

I don’t really think that to be honest — that’s just my medium. I wouldn’t say painters aren’t able to do that, maybe they can do it much better than I can. For me, it just makes sense, it’s an easy way for me to just pour loads of things and it to land in one image.

You recently worked on creating an enormous mural for Jay-Z’s ‘The Book of HOV’ exhibition at Brooklyn Public Library — how did that project come about? What inspired you about the specific imagery that you used to create the work?

So we got approached by General Idea for that. It was crazy when that came in, I couldn’t believe it — and I still can’t. At the same time, there was so much about it that made sense: the fact it was a mural and the question was bringing it to life in some way. I wouldn’t have been able to accept it so confidently if it wasn’t for my agent Roxy; at the time, they asked me if I was able to complete it to this scale, and Roxy was like “absolutely, don’t worry about it”.  

In terms of putting it together, Roc Nation sent us thousands of photos of him, as well as explained to us in depth about what was important to him. I went on my own journey of research, I watched everything — all the documentaries, every music video. It was like a PhD of Jay-Z, I just tried to absorb all of it. I already had a lot of knowledge of him, but I had this new energy. I tried to respond organically to the images that I liked, so there were certain moments that needed to come in, but I wanted it to feel epic and celebratory, but also subtle, in the sense that they’re a moment for him and not forced. I used other imagery like foliage and visuals representing the passing of time, so sunset, daytime and night time, as he’s worked through so many eras and years, and all of them are so important to him — so this was all metaphorical, the atmosphere of it all. When it came to the images of him, I was responding to the images that I liked. There was one moment, a picture of him in a car in London when he was really young, and that photo is so iconic as at that time, loads of his friends either died or were sent to prison, so he speaks about that moment in time saving his life.  

In the past few years, you have rapidly risen to prominence as a young artist — what are you looking forward to in the future?

What I’m really excited about is I’ve been building boards, so working out how to go from paper to mixed media and pasting things bigger. The next stage I want to go to is making things more physical, much bigger. I am really excited about the body of work I am approaching. I want to finish an animation which will be the longest one I’ve done so far. From that, I just love the idea of learning new things and bringing them into my work. I do short courses, too; I recently did one on painting and one on mixed media before that, as I didn’t study art, so I like collecting these bits of information. I know what I want to do for the next year or so and then after that see where else it can go. When I studied menswear, there was a day we did a collage course. Before then, I hadn’t ever really considered it, but because I did that it inspired where I am now. That’s why I’m such an advocate of short courses or being open to new things, as you don’t know what part of you it will trigger and take you on a journey you never expected.