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One diver’s salvation through art and the ocean.
by Jade Hoksbergen
French-Taiwanese artist, underwater photographer, and author, Jade brings a fusion of street art and expressionism to her ocean-inspired works. She lives in Devon, U.K., with husband Henley Spiers and their two young daughters.
Expression through art has always played a vital role in my life and my wellbeing. I started painting from the age of 14 after being given a diagnosis that would change my life forever. My affair with painting quickly blossomed when my artistic ambitions were recognised and encouraged by my father. Painting soon became something I engaged in on a daily basis, often several times a day. It was as important to me as breathing, and in strange ways, it has kept me alive and going. I slowly learned that by putting paintbrush to canvas, I could feel temporary relief from the internal demons I faced. Painting felt to me like a necessity, rather than a hobby, and I painted so prolifically that it felt as though it defined my very existence for a while. It has, and still, allows me to process emotions I struggle to articulate in words. I guess you could say that I write my biography best with a paintbrush.
My body of work can be broken down into two series: the ANOX (2009-2012) series, and the OCEAN series (2013-2020). The ANOX series is the product of an enormous creative urge that began after I was given a diagnosis which made clear to me that I was treading on a thin line that separated life from death. Each ANOX painting is a composition comprised of these lines. Paintings in this series are not only characterised by the use of clean bold lines, but also, bold colours and rigid geometrical shapes. They reflect a past version of myself that was not only chasing an ungraspable sense of control in life, but operating in deadly-narrow comfort zone.
Growing up in the Philippines allowed for weekly visits to the sea, and I was introduced to scuba diving at the age of 9. This exposure to the underwater world would start to directly influence my art from 2013 onwards, as I began a new series of work: OCEAN. This series sees clean bold lines replaced by messy lines, giving suggestions of an evolving self that is more relaxed, one that is no longer confined inside a rigid mind-prison. This series is the product of an evolving self that has since accepted that much of life is beyond our control. Rather than the use of exclusively bold colours, the OCEAN series sees the mixing of colours, symbolising life’s uncertainty and the idea that rather than being absolute, many things in life fall under a spectrum. The OCEAN series reveals an appreciation for lifeforms underwater, and they exhibit spontaneity and freedom — one that comes with embracing this uncertainty. This series draws influence from life in the ocean, a place which I have often felt most free. Diving transports me to the same place painting does, a place of tremendous healing and relief. A place where destructive tendencies are hushed. By processing my emotions through art, abstruse creatures are born, and destructive thoughts are purged. I keep my head above the water by painting what may lurk below.
As I embarked upon the OCEAN series, my ties to the sea were strengthening. On a trip to Malapascua in 2013, a place world-famous for thresher sharks, I met Henley. He would later become my husband and a father to our two children. Together we pursued a life guided by undersea encounters, working together as dive pros in Saint Lucia, before transitioning to a new career as underwater photographers. The camera is a valuable creative outlet, fulfilling my passion for sharing the story of the ocean’s smaller, and often overlooked inhabitants. At heart however, my creative mother-tongue is painting.
What I’m interested in painting is not what I can see, but rather, what I feel. My art will always be very personal to me, and I have for a long time fought shy of sharing my work for the fear of being criticised and judged. Most of my work include “symbols”, these are abstractions of certain objects/features/elements which I feel are important in the telling of my story. Some of these symbols include sharp teeth, drool drops, belching tongue, crosses, and the three ribs (often disguised as fish gills), and they highlight the trauma in my past which I bear the scars of today. In many ways, the ‘portraitures’ I paint are very much extensions of myself, carrying the burden of my emotions so that I don’t have to. Therefore, by the same train of thought, any criticism to them feels like a criticism directed at my own existence. But I’ve since learned that for the viewer, they are nothing more than works of art, and there is nothing more subjective and varied in this world than our tastes. So, I have decided, as a personal challenge, to keep creating but also, to share and to let them go. To let go of the fear that comes along with exposing these extensions of myself, but also to physically let them go. I truly believe this is the next step I need to take for my personal growth, and truth be told, I only have so many walls!
My paintings document not just my metamorphosis as a painter, but as a survivor — one that has found great solace in the ocean and art.
You can see more of Jade’s work and keep up with the weekly release of new artworks here:
Instagram: @myjaded.artstyle
Facebook: @jadehoksbergen