Today we’d like to introduce you to Rejjia Camphor.
Hi Rejjia, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family as a curious child, I didn’t always get the clarity and nurturing I needed to survive. So I had to rely on my creativity to fill in the blanks for me and be a safe space of understanding. I loved school because learning was all about that process and felt a lot like a safe space where I got to ask a bunch of questions and actually get the answers and nurturing I needed. However, I still hadn’t learned how to regulate my emotions so I got into trouble a lot too and teachers would send me away to the office to write out the code of conduct multiple times as punishment.
One day, a school aid named Mr. Jackson suggested that I try writing poetry, like the ones on the posters around the school. So I started to write what would be my very first poem: Good and Bad. After that day, I continued to write, poems, especially ones that rhymed, but also generally and particularly when I was overwhelmed with emotions and just needed a place to vent or understand or persevere through. That’s how I started writing.
Gradually, I continued to find other art-related outlets such as photography and drawing and as my knowledge for these things grew, I naturally wanted to share and experience
them with others. This led me into leadership roles such as teaching photography and creative writing to youth and volunteering in community service projects. I have been fortunate enough to expand myself, artistically, personally and professionally through various opportunities and connections which have helped me to see myself as more than just a troublesome kid. Today, I am an incredibly talented and versatile creative artist, activist, leader and so much more.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
When I look back on the past, it is much easier to remember the bad stuff than the good stuff. Trying to heal and sustain myself after many years of major and psychological trauma has not been easy. As a person living with multiple chronic illnesses, I am in an everyday battle against my symptoms. I
constantly suffer from anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, memory and mood issues and pain. As well, things like burnout, analysis paralysis, procrastination and writer’s block. If there’s anything I can tell you from what I’ve learned, it’s that healing is not a linear process.
Sure, it is very frustrating. One day, I’ll have bursts of energy and can move around and get things done. The next, I can’t leave my bed because of the pain and fatigue. Most
nights I can’t sleep and other days, I oversleep. I can’t say I don’t get disheartened by it all because I do. It affects my ability to be present for my work and show up on time. I try to remember that the good days will come back, that they have to, because that’s the process. However, it is still very difficult for me to persevere because my symptoms are unrelenting. So one of my biggest challenges has been maintaining a daily routine that is pivotal to my artistic work and thinking process.
One of practices that I have been able to sustain since I was younger is art journaling. It has allowed me to authentically represent myself in a variety of forms. I can draw or collage
or make lists or just write senseless without the stress or expectation that typically comes from worrying about the aesthetics of poetry or photography or film. I can retreat into those blank notebook pages and anchor myself there. At first, I didn’t understand why sometimes in order to move forward, you must go backwards. But when I began to revisit past journal entries, I would realize that while surviving those unpleasant and unexpected experiences was not easy, the fact that I did makes me a force to be reckoned with. And that understanding gives me extraordinary pride.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m not afraid to be provocative in my work nor advocate for the things I care about. I believe that is what sets me apart from others. That and my out-of-the-box thinking
and versatility. I specialize in being limitless in the forms I can embody to inspire meaningful action and change. My work is fueled heavily by my emotions and my personal beliefs. I take pride especially in creating art and projects that are committed to healing, inclusion, joy, justice, liberation and truth-telling. I also take pride in being the person people come to for helpful advice and creative problem solving. I hope I may leave the world in a much better than the way I was born into it.
In 2020, I graduated with a B.A. degree concentrating in Creative Writing, Visual Culture, and Women’s Studies from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. My senior thesis was entitled: The Chaos of Origins: A Complex Art Anthology which explored a variety of work I created and curated on personal and political themes like climate change, lynching, sexual trauma and state violence. In 2021, I was a participating artist in GB Youth Media’s “Empathy to Solidarity: Activism Through The Media Arts” Exhibit at Triangle Art Studios in Bethesda, MD. My three word search puzzles were showcased, which I dedicated to murdered black women (remember me), their surviving family (I’m still here) and denouncing their killers (kill all rapists). These are some of the most meaningful works I have ever created to this day.
In 2021, I started a whole environmental project because I got so angry at seeing litter in my community all the time that I started to clean it up by myself. I got a grant to support my work and get supplies. I made a short film sharing my story and submitted it to a couple festivals to increase my project’s awareness. An excerpt of it was officially selected to be exhibited in the Born in Baltimore Film and Photography Festival in 2022. I was unable to make the festival in-person due to my chronic illness but I did receive feedback from the event curator saying that many people were moved by the film. Through this project, I have been able to make lots of sincere connections which makes me glad because I love collaborating with others doing the same work that I am. Currently, I am working on my next steps for this project which include building some type of fence at Hanlon Park Stream to prevent further passerby littering. I also want to hold the city officials accountable for their neglect towards addressing environmental issues in Baltimore.
I have had the honor of receiving many awards for my community service and artistic work. In 2015 and 2016, I received a Silver Key and Gold Key award from the Scholastic’s Art and Writing Awards for my poetry and storytelling. In 2016, I was recognized as a Maryland Distinguished Finalist by the Prudential Spirit of Community Awards and received a bronze engraved
medallion for my volunteer community service. In 2018, I was a Finalist in the Baltimore Youth Poet Laureate competition. And In 2020, I was the elected by my peers to be the Student Speaker Address at my College Graduation. Additionally, I have been published in a few anthologies and literary magazines which is nice to have to my name at only 24 years old.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I don’t know if I have one favorite childhood memory as its a bit blurry to even remember but I can talk about some of my favorite activities as a kid.
Considering I started an environmental project to address littering and pollutions, I loved playing outside as a kid. I would play in the dirt, climb up trees, collect rocks and pick flowers (before I knew it was not good to.)
I remember reading Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech for the first time. It was the first book to make me love reading. I also recall emailing the author about how
much her books impacted me and how I was going to be a writer like her. Creech responded back to me saying she was “honored” that her words entered my life and that now mine had entered hers. She said she hopes I continue to find books I love and maybe one day write my own. I’m still working on it Ms. Creech.
Other joyful activities I enjoyed as kid were watching movies, listening to music and as I said before, learning new things. I can’t forget the very first time I got to see and touch a jellyfish up close. I was at this non-denominational Christian summer camp called Wabanna in Edgewater, MD through my dad’s addiction rehab program. At the time, I was a baptist, but now I just identify as spiritual. The place was alongside the Chesapeake Bay so they had lots of land space and water activities. They taught us how to jet ski, sail, zipline, tube and crab fish. I had never done any of those things before so I was really happy to have learned all of that in one summer. And I was fascinated to witness the catching of a jellyfish by the camp counselors who turned them upside down on their head on the dock of the bay. I learned that you could touch their head and not get stung. It was awesome but kinda sad too.
Pricing:
- $15 – $20 Spiritual cleansing, crowns and earrings
- $35 – $45 T-Shirts
- $50 – $75 hourly for consulting services and tarot readings
- $75 – $200 for photography and writing services, event facilitation and planning
Contact Info:
- Website: https://complexartanthology.wixsite.com/coocaa/contact
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jia_love/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rejjiacamphor/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sisterstreamcatcher/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rejjiacamphorcw
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JiaMark
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/89JCpnZHV-w
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rejjiacamphor
- Other: https://www.bonfire.com/store/coocaa/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/RejjiaTheWriter
Image Credits
Patrice Hutton
