Today we’d like to introduce you to Lina Gwyn Jolie.
Hi Lina Gwyn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. I honestly don’t think there is anything else I’d want to spend my life doing. For a while, it was just me gluing flowers and glitter to my face and doing self-timer photoshoots on my phone. I didn’t know if there was anyone that could relate to what I was doing, I was just doing what I wanted.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I’m a queer minority living in the south making artwork about sexuality, social constructs, and death, so no it hasn’t been a smooth road for me, but if anything I think adversity builds character. I was brought up religious and I was taught to follow a very rigid set of rules from a young age. It took a lot of unlearning and self-discovery to get where I am today but I’d do it all again if I had to.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a multidisciplinary artist specializing in experimental garment construction, drag and editorial make up. I don’t really like labels, but if I had to guess I’d say that most people know me as a make-up artist, although at some point I hope to outgrow that title. I don’t think that everything I do can be neatly fitted into any box. I started off with drawing, painting, and embroidery, but after a while, I would get really bored with one medium and just move on to the next, and then the next, and so on. I went from crochet to needle-felting, to upcycling, to make up, then back to painting, and after a while, I started to create my own little world.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was born in San Francisco California, but I grew up in the South. I went to a Baptist Christian school for most of my formative years and growing up I was always the shy, awkward kid. I was always crying over every little thing. My parents would always tell me to toughen up and that the real world would chew me up and spit me out if I didn’t learn to stick up for myself. I’m not trying to garner sympathy for myself. I’m very glad things turned out the way they did, but for most of my childhood and teens, I felt that I did not fit in anywhere. Art was always my outlet and my answer to every problem. I was always daydreaming and then drawing out my little dreams in hopes that one day they’d come true. My mom would always call me a space cadet and tell me that if I was half as focused on schoolwork as I was on my drawings then I’d be the smartest kid in class, but I’ve always had a one-track mind when it comes to certain things.
Contact Info:
- Email: Camille.cb1999@gmail.com
- Website: camillechiying.com
- Instagram: Hentailina
Image Credits:
Photographers; Sav Huddleston, Detavius Niblack, Tuck Chaylor
