Atlanta based artist Zipporah Joe'l is not afraid to be provocative. Fusing different elements of pop culture with bright colors, she uses her art to highlight the female anatomy and fashion while also raising questions about society. Joe'l is set to bring her unique style, that mixes vivid color and pop culture, to this year’s A3C Festival & Conference as a featured artist in the ARTlanta showcase series.
While many artists pull from their surroundings, Joe'l had to rely more on her vivid imagination on her journey into the art world. Born in Pemberton, SC, a town with a population less than 400 people, she said she spent a lot of time alone reading magazines and comic books, watching anime and playing video games.
“Being in a place that was kind of barren as far as art, I had to use my imagination a lot when I was child so it started from there,” Joe'l said.
Joe'l used fashion and art to satiate her burning to desire to create. She began taking art seriously when a tattoo artist noticed her doodling at a local head shop.
A photo posted by @zipporahjoel on Jun 6, 2016 at 10:49am PDT
“He came in and he was like ‘yo, you’re really f*cking good,’” she said. “He told me it was something I should pursue and then I started pursuing it.”
From there Joe'l began creating more and posting her work online. Not knowing what to expect, she was pleasantly surprised by the response to her work as her posts began to resonate with a lot of online viewers.
“I was just making random posts and people were just responding,” Joe'l said. “I was really just making art kind of selfishly. And when I saw that other people were relating to what I was doing, that was a defining moment for me.”
Joe'l says her work for the ARTlanta showcase will be darker than her usual stuff as it represents her transition from small town living to moving to a big city full of talented artists.
A photo posted by @zipporahjoel on Jul 18, 2016 at 7:20pm PDT
“I had this little hiccup and stumble when I first got here as far as feeling confident in my creativity,” she said. “I think in my pieces from A3C you will kind of be able to see this rebirth of self and me letting go of the ego that I had acquired from being a standout back home and coming here and just being one of many.
“They will be a lot more dark than pieces I’ve created in the past, but they are a lot more honest as well.”
You can catch Zipporah Joe'l at the Artistista 3 Showcase at the ARTlanta gallery Thursday October 6 at 8:00 p.m.