Dèja M. Jones
I would like to share my knowledge by applying it to my art. I use my work as a catalyst to encourage conversations around equity and intersectionality.
About Dèja M. Jones
After leaving University due to a lack of financial support I worked my way up the corporate ladder in the New Orleans hospitality industry. Once I learned the intentional and harmful mistreatment of the employees, which were majority People of Color, I launched myself onto the path I stand on today. In 2018 I showcased my first installation at the New Orleans Art Center, honoring the resilience of Black communities that advocated for our community during the Civil Rights Era and thanking them for the self-love and pride they instilled in future generations. In 2020, I cofounded Mobilizing Millennials, a community organization that promotes social equity and economic mobility. In addition to helping organize dozens of protests, I curated “Artists for Activism,” which brought together the work of Tulane University students to fundraise for the family of George Floyd. As we fought on the streets of New Orleans, I created our protest banners and posters. We organized to address the lack of accountability for the NOPD, prison abolition, rehabilitation programming, equitable education, affordable housing, voting laws, gentrification, environmental issues, and fair labor practices. While supporting a line of advocacy groups, including the New Orleans Youth Alliance and The Youth Justice Advocates, I am currently the Programs Coordinator for Imagine Waterworks. Imagine Water Works is a local LGBTQ-led organization that engages our Southeast Louisiana community to think about our ancestral and interdependent relationship with the surrounding land and water. We work at an intersection of advocacy, climate justice, water management, and disaster readiness and response through art, science, and human connection. I started this work as their artist in residence in 2019. I now work as their Programs Coordinator on projects including the Mutual Aid Response Network, The Storm Zine Project: The Queer/Trans Guide to Hurricane Season, Working With Water: An Art/Science Symposium, The 2022 Hurricane Preparedness Guide, and several hurricane and tornado relief programs that center mutual aid practices.
The Artist Statement
I am a self-taught Black Creole interdisciplinary artist born and bred in New Orleans, Louisiana. My practice is rooted in making connections between communities, objects, cultures, and governance. I pull from my lived experiences growing up in New Orleans communities of spiritual healers, Black educators, and BIPOC legacy builders. My community role is to organize movements and build objects and spaces that are sites of celebration, honor, healing, and revolution. The installations and archival spaces I create consist of sculptures and paintings made in my studio practice and are grounded in my advocacy and community organizing.
