JEWEL HAM

A Black woman with tousled curls stands in her kitchen staring deeply into the great beyond. Dressed in nothing but a green satin bra, burgundy velvet boxers, and a sheer, pale pink shawl, she hovers in time — with a butcher knife in one hand, and a red onion in the other, she contemplates her own layers as she carves through real ones. 

These are the moments that move Jewel Ham to paint Black women. This piece, titled, “and what about it?” stands tall at 68 by 52 inches and lives as one painting in an ongoing acrylic love letter Ham is writing to Black women on canvas. A Summa Cum Laude fine arts grad from Howard University, Ham’s work centers the multidimensional B-sides of Black women’s lives, from a girl’s night out living room style to the frustrated face of a couch-ridden, recent Black college grad. Ham told HelloBeautiful that her work is an ode to the Black woman she is, and the Black women she knows. 

“None, or hardly any, of my paintings reference me, but they are all self-portraits,” Ham said. “They are amalgamations at the end of the day. They are personal histories. They are memories. They are things that have happened in life, in pop-culture at large, history, etcetera.” Those moments are now framed forever in exhibits all over the world. Ham’s art has been displayed both nationally and overseas, like Senegal, Sweden, and the DMV. She describes her ease with brush and paint as a divine gift that unfolds for her naturally, and it’s been that way since childhood. The real effort for her, she said, comes in creating the world around the art.

Trust The Process

“Something about my process, I’m not sure if anyone knows, it really starts with writing,” she said. “ I’m really big on clarifying the story that I’m trying to tell.” Taking the prep time to gather those juicy details is what makes Ham’s paintings come alive from 2D into a moment you could live inside of. “How does this outfit selection speak to the type of woman I’m envisioning?” Ham said of her world-building pre-painting work.

“How should her hair be? How was my hair in this story? If I was rewriting the story, how would I have done the styling?’” Those questions paint the scene in Ham’s mind, which eventually transfers onto the canvas. With pieces titled, “booked n busy,” “keep that energy,” and “okay girl, anyways,” Ham’s painted stills serve as a loving gaze into the lives of Black women. “I’m constantly trying to evoke something that feels familiar, feels like something I’ve seen before,” she said.

The familiar vibe of her work makes her art a perfect ally for brands—including Nike, New Balance, Donna Karan, and more. Even while balancing the museum art and commercial art aspects of her portfolio, Ham says diluting the emotional authenticity of her pieces is not an option, no matter who comes to the table. “Ownership comes down to knowing who you are, and what you’re worth,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, when you create something that’s a piece of artwork, whether it’s a painting, a film, a campaign, it will outlive you.” Ham said the longevity of her work and art has to be grounded in self-care and managing her own needs. The DMV native said she has had to get really clear on what her time and energy constraints are to avoid getting burnt out or taken advantage of, and she wants other artists to take heed and not give any company their “best work.”

“Sometimes the answer is no. The answer is ‘I can’t do this.’” she said of her boundaries. To keep herself from self-sacrificing, she said she understands that every creative, business, or personal decision comes at a cost, so she has to weigh the scales with every offer. “What am I giving, so they can take,” she said, asking herself, “And am I still considering my needs on a larger scale?” 

Looking forward, Ham hopes to see more Black women begin to take up space in the art world in order to give more visual voice to the wide reach of Black femme POVs. “Because the Black experience is not monolithic, it’s very important for us to have diverse perspectives,” she said, noting that being the only Black person in the room is not an honor, it’s a limitation. “On a simple level, you know how they say ‘all skin folk ain’t kin folk?’ We only have one woman in the room, how do we know that’s representative of me? You gotta have three in the room, at least,” she said.

Ham’s advice for artists who are in this career for a lifetime, not a sprint, is to own their creative identity and to not be afraid to reserve something for themselves in the creation marathon. 

 
“Decide what you would like to share with the world. What paintings, what art work, what media comes first in your own professional identity,” she said, and ignore anyone who tries to discredit the contributions art gives to humanity. “If you say art isn’t for me, you are not my type of b-tch,” Ham said. The fine artist’s confidence blossoms from remembering her unique identity is her greatest currency, and at the end of the day, “no one can do what” she does.

 “And that’s period,” Ham told HelloBeautiful. “That’s something I would tell any other artist, and that will keep you grounded.”