Jess X. Snow (Chinese: 陈雪; born 1992) is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, muralist, public artist and poet.[1]

Jess X. Snow
Born1992
EducationRhode Island School of Design, New York University
Websitehttp://jessxsnow.com/

Biography edit

Biography edit

Jess X. Snow's parents immigrated from Nanchang, China to Canada after the Cultural Revolution.[1] From 2009 to 2013, Snow attended the Rhode Island School of Design and got a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film/Animation/Video and Literary Arts. Snow is currently pursuing an MFA in directing at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.[2]

Their film and immersive work has been supported with grants and fellowships from the Tribeca Film Institute, Canada Council of the Arts and commissioned by Adobe, and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific Center. Their murals and political graphics have appeared on walls across the country and on PBS Newshour, The LA Times, during the Women's March on Washington, and in the permanent collection of the Ford Foundation and the Library of Congress. Their children's books titles include The Ocean Calls (forthcoming Kokila/Penguin Randomhouse, written by Tina Cho), and Black Girl Magic (MacmillanUSA, written by Mahogany L. Browne).

They are the director and cinematographer of AFTEREARTH, an immersive 3-channel documentary that won Best Experimental Short Award at the Philly Asian American Film Festival and has screened at a dozen film festivals including Outfest Fusion, CAAMfest, and the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. Their narrative short, Safe Among Stars is currently in post production.[citation needed]

Art edit

Murals and installations edit

Featured in the LA Times, "We Always Had Wings" is a community mural project in downtown Los Angeles featuring migration of the endangered Yellow-billed cuckoo and portraits of 15 migrant girls at the Miguel Contreras Learning Complex.[3]

"Immigration Is Transformation" was on view at Belonging: Before and After the Immigration Act of 1965 at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle's Chinatown until February 2016 (curated by Minh Nguyen).[4][5][6] It is created from layers of hand-cut Japanese kozo paper, wire, and fishing line in 2015.

"O Wind, Take Me to My Country" is a mural at the Art Bar Gallery in Kingston, NY on a three-story wall for the 7th Annual O+ Festival.[7] It features a portrait of Safia Elhillo, a Sudanese-Migrant poet.

"Ain't I A Women" is a mural finished in fall 2015 in collaboration with Jetsonorama and features portraits of poets Mahogany Browne and T'ai Freedom Ford with Sojourner Truth's "Ain't I a Woman?" text.[8]

"We Be Darker Than Blue" is a mural installed at the BRIC art space in New York City and portrays two generations of black woman poets: Mahogany Browne and Sonia Sanchez, pioneer of the black arts movement.[9] It is based on the Frida Kahlo painting "The Two Fridas."

Poetry edit

Snow performs and tours nationally for their poetry and spoken word, and has received recognition for it. In 2016, Snow's poem "Hunger Drives The Body into Imagination" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.[10] Her poem "If Cygnus Were A Refugee" was nominated for Best of the Net Anthology.[11]

  • "The Last Words of the Honey Bees," Nepantla: Issue II
  • "Hunger Drives The Body Into Imagination,"(nominated for a Pushcart Prize), The Blueshift Journal[12]
  • "Inheriting The Hurricane" Foundry Journal[13]
  • "The Resistance of the Anglerfish," and "The Day I Cracked Open Heaven," The Offing[14]
  • "The Field of Cattle" in Wildness[15]
  • "If Cygnus Were A Refugee" (nominated for Best of the Net Anthology) "Embroidery", and "First Day of Spring" Storyscape Journal[16][17]
  • "What I Saw Through The Telescope", The Margins[18]
  • "How To Forgive 100 Years After A War," Hyphen Magazine[19]

Performances edit

  • "The Inverse of You Is The Universe," SlamFind 2015[20]
  • Ghost Town, 2012[21]

Filmography edit

  • Red (2014)[22]
  • Afterearth (2018)[23]
  • Safe Among Stars (2019)[24]
  • Little Sky (2021)[25]
  • I Wanna Become the Sky (2023)[26]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "ABOUT – JESS X CHEN". www.jessxsnow.com. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  2. ^ "Jess X. Snow". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
  3. ^ "WE ALWAYS HAD WINGS – JESS X CHEN". jessxchen.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  4. ^ "Belonging: Before & After the Immigration Act of 1965 | Digital Exhibition". www.wingluke.org. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  5. ^ "IMMIGRATION IS TRANSFORMATION – JESS X CHEN". jessxchen.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  6. ^ "Belonging: Before & After the Immigration Act of 1965 | Digital Exhibition". www.wingluke.org. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  7. ^ "O WIND, TAKE ME TO MY COUNTRY – JESS X CHEN". jessxchen.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  8. ^ "AIN'T I A WOMAN? – JESS X CHEN". jessxchen.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  9. ^ "WE BE DARKER THAN BLUE – JESS X CHEN". jessxchen.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  10. ^ "Blueshift Journal on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  11. ^ "Storyscape Journal – Issue 16 – If Cygnus were a Refugee by Jess X. Chen". storyscapejournal.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  12. ^ "The Blueshift Journal". The Blueshift Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  13. ^ "Jess X. Chen". Foundry. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  14. ^ "Two Micros by Jess X. Chen | The Offing". The Offing. 23 March 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  15. ^ "W I L D N E S S". readwildness.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  16. ^ "Storyscape Journal – Issue 16 – Embroidery by Jess X. Chen". storyscapejournal.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  17. ^ "Storyscape Journal – Issue 16 – First Day of Spring 2016 by Jess X. Chen". storyscapejournal.com. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  18. ^ "Asian American Writers' Workshop – What I Saw Through The Telescope". aaww.org. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  19. ^ "January Lit: "How to Forgive 100 Years After a War" by Jess X. Chen". Hyphen Magazine. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  20. ^ SlamFind (18 October 2015), Jess X Chen – "The Inverse of You Is the Universe", retrieved 18 December 2016
  21. ^ "Jess X. Chen performs "Ghost Town"". Vimeo. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  22. ^ "Asians On Film Festival - Winter Quarter 2014 Winners". Asians on Film. 14 April 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  23. ^ "2018 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival - Program Guide by Visual Communications - Issuu". issuu.com. 3 May 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  24. ^ "SAFE AMONG STARS". CAAMFest FORWARD. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  25. ^ "SFTFF 2021 – Program 2 – San Francisco Transgender Film Festival". Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  26. ^ "2023 New Orleans Film Festival". noff2023.eventive.org. Retrieved 27 February 2024.

External links edit