Bronx Artist Spotlight:
Sonja John

STORY BY PAMELA Y. ROZON

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL YOUNG +  SONJA JOHN

Published Dec 2023

“As soon as I could hold a pencil, I’ve been drawing,” said 29-year-old artist Sonja John. Her love for art started when she was about five years old, with her father catching her in the act of drawing on their apartment walls with a black sharpie. When she grew a little older, he would take her to a museum every week. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, carrying a sketchbook in hand alongside her father, Sonja would follow his path, starting in ancient Egypt, moving on to ancient Greece, and finishing up in Europe. She would draw anything that captured her eye, and it became a habit for her to carry a sketchbook at all times. It’s the same path through the museum that she follows to this day, and now Sonja creates her own handmade journals where she continues sketching new ideas for future paintings.

“I started making the work that I make now because I couldn’t picture a place where somebody like me could find a home.”

Growing up as a queer and multiracial kid in New York City, she was enveloped by a sense of loneliness. Among her peers in school, she was considered too ethnic, but when visiting the tropics of Jamaica or the Philippines, she seemed too American.

When visiting her family in Jamaica, she gained a deep appreciation for nature and animal life. In the mountainous valleys, far away from tourist spots and resorts, she found refuge.

As she was growing up, she delved deep into honing her craft, resulting in her acceptance to the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the most prestigious art schools in the country. After graduating in 2017, she continued her career in the arts, landing jobs in museum education, studio assisting for different artists, framing art for major museums (like the Museum of Modern Art) and more. In 2021, she applied for a job at the Bronx Documentary Center and became the gallery assistant, where she led tours of different exhibits, trained volunteers, helped build frames, and filled a range of other duties.

“We are primarily concerned with how humans change, alter, or occupy these spaces, without thinking about humans as being part of that environment. I don’t want to separate humans from the environment, but I also want to show the environment itself as its own active space of agency.”

Most of Sonja’s work involves themes of community, environmentalism and belonging. Her current work focuses on mural paintings that engage themes of environmental activism. She recently worked on a mural commissioned by the Center for Cultural Power, a women of color, artist-led cultural organization, for New York City’s climate week. The project, titled “We are nature defending ourselves,” was live-painted at NYC’s Javits Center. It was created to draw attention to people who were directly impacted by the Maui wildfires that happened in August, 2023.

The mural depicts Sonja’s sister and nephew, who both live in Maui. She describes her work as dreamlike and celebratory. She enjoys creating art that depicts imaginary oases that provide a sense of belonging. Inspired by her family home in the Caribbean and her identity as a queer multiracial artist, she hopes her art provides others with positivity. A lot of Sonja’s work relates to the physicality of literally putting her being into the work.

She says, “I like to put my whole body into my work,” and this determines the way she creates her paintings. Bigger works of art take less time in comparison to smaller paintings, as she is fully engaged in the process, with every stroke or movement within the work being calculated. She creates her own stencils, patterns, and frames. It’s as if every work is its own performative dance, with the process itself being just as important as the final paintings.

“When I draw, it’s not just putting pencil to paper. Drawing is any activity that allows me to reason with the world that I live in. It’s a method of thinking for artists,” said Sonja. “ I really believe in art as working in service to a bigger cause.

Follow: @sonja__jay / @sonjajohncuratorial