Joy Yamusangie

Primary Colors

- Shaquille Heath

Joy Yamusangie is an artist who knows how to harness the essentials. Their artwork that we see today has evolved from a practice in which they would stare into a mirror and draw lines that outlined their likeness. Who else is there to pull from, if not first starting with your own reflection? Realizing that their first works were similarly created from basic sheets of paper, one of the first exhibitions that really cleaved to Yamusangie's soul was Henri Matisse's paper cut-outs. Where else is there to begin in art, if not from the most accessible components? The pieces often feature bold applications of color, as they find themselves time and time again coming back to hues of red, blue and yellow. How else to bring one's work alive, if not from pulling from the foundational colors of everything we see? Yamusangie's artistry is a rediscovery of the fundamentals. Evidence that to make beautiful art, all you really need is to look around.

Shaquille Heath: As someone who has a name that comes with a lot of expectations, do you feel any pressure to show up a certain way?

Joy Yamusangie: Outside of art, in my day to day life... yes! Haha. I think when you say your name is "Joy," the responses that I usually get are the same. So if I have my normal face, which is neutral, people will say, "Oh, how come you're not smiling?" I get many of those kinds of comments.

My name also always comes with baggage and a conversation, so I get that. How do you fight against it? Is that a battle with yourself where you have to say, "No! I'm not showing up with 'joy' today. I'm showing up with whatever I want!"