Community, creativity and inspiration with Javaughn Forde

Javaughn Forde

Community, creativity and inspiration with Javaughn Forde

Javaughn’s work as a multi-disciplinary artist explores the human experience and emotion. Through visual art, poetry and music Javaughn has been making a name for himself in Trinidad and Tobago. We caught up with him to dig deeper into his practice.

 

Jauvaughn! Good to talk to you, let’s start by hearing about what inspires your artwork? 

 

My work is heavily inspired by the people around me and the stories which they share. I believe that life is a bit rough for most of the world and if I have the opportunity to get their stories out or ease their hardship a little then it’d be okay. Emotions and experiences find themselves as goldmines for inspiration. While they may be vast topics, they are easy to relate to. 

 

It’s really nice to hear that you’re so tied into the community, what is it that motivates you to create and tell these stories? 

 

No one has told me no as yet. For all of the things that I’ve attempted to do and ideas that I thought would have been crazy, no one has stopped me to say “that’s a bad idea” or “I don’t think you can do that”. With this in mind I’m motivated to keep going until the world tells me no. After that happens I’d go beyond their no to verify that I was right to pursue the idea in the first place.

 

Tell us a little about your process, where do you create your work and when do you feel is your favourite time to create?

 

Fortunately, I create work everywhere. While driving I’m thinking of lines, ideas and how to bring concepts across clearly. If I’m out with friends I may have an idea. Most times my room is the genesis of it all and the rest of the country an extension of my playground.

My favourite time of day to create is usually late night/early morning. That way I’m able to properly zone in with nothing but music in the background guiding the direction of the artwork/poem. There are fewer distractions at that time as well. The silence of the night is magical. 

 

A big part of what you do is performing your music and poetry, how do you feel when performing? 

 

When practicing, I tend to feel like a dork for all of the movements and projection that has to be done wherever practice is on that day. When performing on stage however, I feel as though I’m on top of the world. Everything melts away, It’s just the mic and I (possibly the band) and endless possibilities. 

 

With regards to Art in general, how important do you feel it is to society? 

 

To me, art is way more important to society than society actually gives it credit for. Art makes up our daily lives. The design of our cars, water bottles, jingles on the radio, posters for parties, all of these things are so essential that we take them for granted. Art influences our daily choices and is one of the many ways in which persons/companies get clients. Art is one of the most important things in society even if it is simply for leisure as it also allows for people to connect on an emotional level leaving us never truly alone.

 

What impact do you hope your work has? 

 

I hope that my work is able to bring people together. Life is difficult for everyone and I don’t think it makes sense to carry that burden alone. Knowing that someone else is having a difficult time or that someone else is willing to carry it with them can make life a little bit more bearable. I hope to give people the opportunity to see that they don’t have to do it alone and do in fact have a community that is able to support them through the rough times. 

 

 What are your hopes for your future? Where do you see yourself and your practice in the next 5 years?

 

I hope to live comfortably, leaving a legacy that my offspring can benefit from and enough archival information so future generations have an easier time traversing the community than current participants do.

My ambitions for my work would be to transcend my current community and allow myself to step foot in multiple spaces such as set design, project rollouts, book editing and multiple other artistic roles.

In the next five years I see myself following in the footsteps of those who came before me such as Derron Sandy, Es Devlin, Marina Abramovic and Donald Glover. All of the aforementioned persons have found a way to do what they love comfortably while also pushing their craft forward and creating a path for those behind them to follow and learn from their mistakes.

 

 

 Want to see more Javaughn’s work? You can explore right here. 

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