SHAWNA X
Shawna X is an independent artist & creative based in New York, known for her vibrant, visceral and graphical image-making across digital, spatial and motion mediums.
She creates experiences in music, fashion, technology, collaborating with clients such as New Yorker, New York Times, W Hotel, Nike, Google, and Ghostly International.
Shawna X enjoys projects about cultural identity, the creative process and more recently, motherhood. She has been invited to speak on these topics by Adobe Max, Us by Night, AIGA Keynote, and in publications such as Creative Independent and the Great Discontent. She taught product and brand design at Parsons School of Design, and is currently learning glassblowing.
Designing Women III: MOTHER Poster #1
Designing Women III: MOTHER Poster #2
“I want to speak honestly through work that isn’t glossed over and the best way I’ve been able to communicate honestly is through my art.”
— Shawna X
“Shawna X on making motherhood a regular conversation in the creative industries”, It’s Nice That
“Even though Portland is a place that’s now known for encouraging weirdness, when I was growing up there it was pretty homogenous. It was really white—most of the people I was surrounded by didn’t understand me, or what I was trying to communicate. That was hard for me, especially because I was so new to this country and its culture, and I was a child. I had to express myself through my artwork instead of language, because I didn’t know how else to communicate.”
— Shawna X
“Shawna X”, The Great Discontent
Photograph by Collin Hughes
“Translating complex emotions is one of my favorite things to tackle. ‘What is love?’ for example. That may seem incredibly easy, but how do you draw ‘love’?”
— Shawna X
I think being totally creatively satisfied is hard for a lot of artists, though. The essence of a creative person is to constantly push and challenge yourself. Otherwise, you’re just comfortable. That may work for some people, but I try to push myself a little further in order to elevate the work, and to keep it moving forward. So in that way, no, I don’t think I’ll ever be creatively satisfied—until maybe I’m dead. (laughing)
— Shawna X
“My main goal is to make motherhood/birth/the power of a woman a regular conversation in the art and design space by creating work that talks about these exact things” …
“We grew up with the notion that the woman has to decide between her role as a house maker or a career woman… In the UK and the US, parenthood is not seen as a priority as evidenced by the ridiculously short amount of paid parental leave, but I do think we are gifted with the ability to challenge tradition.”
— Shawna X
“Shawna X on making motherhood a regular conversation in the creative industries”, It’s Nice That
Dust to Body to Dust Again, 2018 by Shawna X
