Creatives of September #2
ANGELA JONES
@image.atlas
NAME: Who are you today?
AJ: I’m Angela Jones. I am an Australian-born artist who relocated to New York in 2014 to pursue alternative photographic process which I am still doing to this day. I’ve been operating out of my studio in Bushwick for the last decade and I am now teaching the process in the form of workshops both internationally and in New York, predominantly with Photo Dom which is a local Black-owned film lab just around the corner. I believe they come here as well to get coffee. I am a sister - I have two sisters in Australia. I am also a doula, I do postpartum doula work.
NAME: Can you tell us about a formative experience that influenced your creativity?
I would say when I landed in New York 10-years ago it was a bit of a slap in the face. I moved here from Australia and was like “I want to intern at this school and I want to do this” and there were kind of set-backs, you know, and everyone was like “get in line.” But it pushed me to follow my own path and I don’t think that I would be where I am today if I hadn’t had that challenging introduction to really test how committed I was to this craft. I would just say that I’ve continued to stay true to myself and my vision and my passion and I’m still doing it to this day. It’s been, you know, a rollercoaster, but very rewarding to be like “I did that.”
NAME: What does September mean to you?
When I was in Australia before I moved here, I worked in cafes. One in particular was a very special cafe where the owners allowed us to take the lead. I was the head chef and I would choose the sandwiches we would make, and we had autonomy. I feel like this space has that same kind of energy where everyone is like family, friends, and it's like the community drop-in center where you go to have a chat and get your coffee and it's, you know, very personal and like a family and I always appreciate that in hospitality establishments. I could make my coffee at home but I like coming here to have a conversation and say hey.
