Q&A with Artist Gaia WXYZ
Gaia WXYZ (pronounced “wize”) is a multimedia creator who specializes in visual art, specifically comics, illustration, painting and design. Gaia was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida and now lives in West Oakland. They received a BA in American Studies from Tufts University (‘15) and an MFA in Comics from California College of the Arts (‘20). For as long as they can remember, art has been the major motivating force in their life, concocting characters and storylines in sketchbooks from an early age. Though they have skills in a variety of media, including printmaking, sculpture, photography, installation and performance art, Gaia has focused their talent to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a published comic artist. They write and draw autobiographical comics about being Black and gender non-conforming. Their artistic style could be described as stylized realism, rich with a vibrant color palette and lush botanical motifs, meshed with a sci-fi sensibility. When there isn’t a pandemic, they sell comics (including a few of their own) for Silver Sprocket, an indie comix publisher and retail store based in the Mission District of San Francisco. They are also the very first Artist-in-Residence at the Queer Healing Arts Center in Oakland. Their comic project, titled SupaClusta, is a dimension-hopping sci-fi series. Currently in development, issue #1 is set to be released in 2021.
Q: Can you share one of your favorite books from our Antiracist Book Collection?
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde. Learning about her work in the Black Feminist Theory course I took in my undergraduate years really influenced my understanding of myself as a Black woman. As a biracial person, I’m the only Black woman in my nuclear family and taking that class opened a lot of doors for me, in terms of how to understand the intersectionality of oppression, the “double bind” so to speak. Until I took that class, and learned about people like bell hooks and Audre Lorde, I didn’t really have the vocabulary to articulate that, and really struggled with my identity.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got started as an artist?
I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember, actually. Some of my earliest memories are of drawing in sketchbooks and journals that I still have to this day. I’m originally from South Florida, and I was lucky enough to attend special public art schools for middle and high school where I studied a variety of fine art media, including drawing, painting, sculpture and photography. I continued to study art in college, graduated from Tufts University with a BA in American Studies, and I’m proud to say that I am a recent graduate from California College of the Arts with a Master’s of Fine Arts in Comics.
Q: What initially drew you to this project with Rise Up Against Racism?
I was contacted by the organization directly through Instagram, actually. Anti-racist consciousness raising has been a major facet of my life for over 10 years now, and so it means a lot to me that I could create something for Rise Up Against Racism. I think the mural that I created on 14th and Broadway has brought a lot of attention to my creations. I’m very glad that I was able to work on this project as it’s completely within my interests as an artist: to create something that is enjoyed by the community, and also functions as a site for the distribution of antiracist texts. I felt that it was a project I could really pour my heart into and make something that has an impact on a large number of people.
Q: How do you approach the connection between art and activism? Where do you find inspiration?
Art and activism have always been closely tied for me. Creative expression has been my way of surviving and thriving in the world, and liberation can happen when we engage with our creative power. I think people are much more inspired by artistic expressions than political debates. Tony Cade Bambara said: “The world is so saturated with political messaging right now, and the role of the artist is to make revolution irresistible.” Art provides the visionary foundation for activist organizing. If we can’t imagine a better world, how will we ever build one? In terms of where I find inspiration, I tend to be the type of artist who has “too many” ideas! I have comics, songs, fashion designs, short stories, paintings, 3D models, all in my daydreams and sketchbooks. Inspiration in the form of ideas is almost overwhelmingly present in my life, it’s the dedication and drive to manifest those ideas into reality that is harder to come by, nowadays. Surviving the pandemic, in a world already hostile towards people of my identity position (Black, Queer, survivor, gender non-conforming, Jewish) is no easy task. Finding the time and energy to focus on my creations is harder than I’d like it to be, but I will never let that keep me from my goals! Ultimately the motivation comes from my desire to have a positive influence on those around me and move humanity forward, in my own small way.
Q: What was your process and approach with this project?
Creating the Little Free Antiracist Library was a very organic process, for me, and went through multiple iterations. The original idea for this library was to do a series of “cosmic portraits” of Black women authors whose work I greatly admire. The list of artists included Audre Lorde, Gwendolyn Brooks, Lorraine Hansberry, Maya Angelou, Ntozake Shange, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, and Zora Neale Hurston.
Because it had been a while since I had painted portraits, I actually got intimidated out of my original idea! So instead, I kept the cosmic motif and made it more Afrofuturistic/Sci-Fi inspired. I started off with the interior, drawing a pattern of shapes using Posca markers. From there I painted the Afro-alien, the Afronauts and the Gye Nyame spaceship, which is based on the Adinkra symbol that means “there is nothing but God”. Recently I found out my African heritage via a genetic ancestry test my Dad took! It turns out we are likely descended from enslaved people taken from the Akan people to Jamaica. Creating a spaceship out of a symbol most likely seen and understood by my ancestors is a way of reclaiming lost heritage, and the sci-fi motif is also a bit of an homage to my Dad, who instilled in me a love of all things sci-fi and space related. I have memories of watching Star Wars and Star Trek with him, as well as looking through his telescope at planets and nebulas.
Q: How can people learn more about you and your work?
Right now my website is still in its early stages, so my work can mostly be seen on Instagram or my Facebook page. My goal is to have the website fully up and running by the end of the year, so in the meantime, definitely check out my Instagram @gaiaw.xyz. I am so excited to be launching my webcomic on my website, http://gaiaw.xyz, so definitely keep your eye out for announcements about that on my Instagram page.
