James Balo's profile

Graphic Portfolio


“Mommy and her phone calls” (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
“Mommy and her phone calls” (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design, Motion Graphics
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"Deflect" 2018 Digital collage, Photography, Graphic design 
“For Him I don’t speak about it, how sometimes I can still smell Him. How I remember that room filled of nothing, but Russian stout beer, and his sweat, and Momma’s snores. He doesn’t know that I can smell the stench of sex and and still quiver. How I haven’t told a soul. How my mouth is Venus fly trap shut, until today. He doesn’t know that I thought I liked it, how he’d made me feel warm and loved and wanted. He does know—that I was only 8. I wish I can tell Momma."

Deflect is a collaborative project I created in partnership with a dear friend of mine and extraordinary artist Cristy Rodriguez. The prompt of this conversational piece was to reveal a personal fear. I wanted to depict my fear of voicing and coming to terms with my own sexual assault experience... but more importantly my fear of telling my mom what happened to me
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Tarot" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
"Frenzy" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography
"Negro Glitch" (2018) Digital Collage, Photography, Poetry, Graphic Design 
“Speak CHILE” (2019) discovers ways to depict the idea and origin of languages and dialects and memory of language, how those memories can be misconstrued and altered over time, how language itself, fades and diminishes over time. “Speak CHILE”
Acts as an ode to my younger sister. Yet again an unclear ode. A glitch of an ode. A glitch of memory.
“Speak CHILE” (2019) discovers ways to depict the idea and origin of languages and dialects and memory of language, how those memories can be misconstrued and altered over time, how language itself, fades and diminishes over time. “Speak CHILE”
Acts as an ode to my younger sister. Yet again an unclear ode. A glitch of an ode. A glitch of memory.

“Speak CHILE” (2019) discovers ways to depict the idea and origin of languages and dialects and memory of language, how those memories can be misconstrued and altered over time, how language itself, fades and diminishes over time. “Speak CHILE”
Acts as an ode to my younger sister. Yet again an unclear ode. A glitch of an ode. A glitch of memory.

“NANN” (2019) discovers ways to depict the idea and origin of languages and dialects and memory of language, how those memories can be misconstrued and altered over time, how language itself, fades and diminishes over time. 
After the death of my grandma, I didn’t try to practice speaking Creole anymore, or even speaking with an “accent”... not that I was fluent in the language, but I stopped trying to be. I stopped trying to learn and now when I hear phrases it triggers a memory of who gave me my language, who gave me song, who gave me history, and culture, and community. “NANN”
Acts as an ode to my grandmother. Yet again an unclear ode. A glitch of an ode.

“NANN” (2019) discovers ways to depict the idea and origin of languages and dialects and memory of language, how those memories can be misconstrued and altered over time, how language itself, fades and diminishes over time. 
After the death of my grandma, I didn’t try to practice speaking Creole anymore, or even speaking with an “accent”... not that I was fluent in the language, but I stopped trying to be. I stopped trying to learn and now when I hear phrases it triggers a memory of who gave me my language, who gave me song, who gave me history, and culture, and community. “NANN”
Acts as an ode to my grandmother. Yet again an unclear ode. A glitch of an ode.
"Glitch" (2019) Experimenting with moving images and creating sound art mixes for my cartographies studio class. I’m Focusing on black vernacular and how it grows, functions, and moves when in a space/ and or community that doesn’t accept it and when black vernacular is constantly corrected and when trying to conform to white americas standards of language and how that is visually embodied and depicted in abstracted forms and movements and experimental sounds and gospel via glitch.
"Glitch" (2019) Experimenting with moving images and creating sound art mixes for my cartographies studio class. I’m Focusing on black vernacular and how it grows, functions, and moves when in a space/ and or community that doesn’t accept it and when black vernacular is constantly corrected and when trying to conform to white americas standards of language and how that is visually embodied and depicted in abstracted forms and movements and experimental sounds and gospel via glitch
Graphic Portfolio
Published:

Graphic Portfolio

Published: