1. Many people find what you do interesting but weird and sometimes confusing. Do you do this deliberately and why do you think this might be the case?
*Laughs* I can imagine....I think I understand why it might appear that way. It gets confusing because I didn’t go to art school and I have a PhD but I don’t present papers or work in a university. I believe art is life and I bring my life, that consists of a range of different backgrounds and experiences, mix it up and present it as my art. I think maybe it would be easier to understand if it was okay to mix things up, but people tend to compartmentalize everything so it’s not really the case. I guess, then, you could say I am doing it deliberately but I don’t feel there is much of a choice for me to do it any other way. I just prefer to use what I really love to explore myself and the world, so I play around with ideas and concepts and try to create new things. Laughs. I take everything I learn personally so whatever I think about I try to practice. I don’t know if I’ve confused you even more, but that’s kinda how I think about it. I would like to find out more about how other people would explain my art because maybe it has nothing to do with what I think.
2. Where are you now in your art?
Hmmmm… I have been working through and thinking through a lot of things. It has been tough and fulfilling at the same time. At times I have had doubts and fears about how everything will all work out and had to dig deep to remind myself about how I got here and where I really see myself going. I use my show on Zanj Radio to practice and work through what it really means for me to be a dj and a sound artist. I use it to help me figure out who is dj Afifa essentially. This has been my main focus over the last 2 years, and today I have a much better idea about what I want to do as a dj and sound artist. I am working on a project that I feel confident in developing. I am excited about it actually. I am creating a distinctive area for my work where I bring together discussions, sound and space. I think I am at the stage where I can see how they can all fit other and I am recommitting to continue making it work.
3. So who is dj Afifa now?
Well she is a selecta who works on sound projects and she makes spaces inspired by music.... yea that's where dj Afifa is.focused right now.
4. Tell us about something that you have been working on that you would like people to listen to?
Well.... The body of a nine year old girl is a sound art project that I would like people to listen to and talk about. It is a very basic track that I created recently. One day I was listening to the local news on youtube. And I heard a story about a nine year old girl who was found dead in bushes. I heard the story first on TVJnews then again on CVM TV. Both stories started the same way and after looking it up in the newspaper and reading twice, the reality sank in. Why was something like this happening in Jamaica? What is going to happen to the children? I heard some parts of the story play back in my mind. The body... of a nine year old girl. I decided to put the two tracks together and recreate the feeling of being in a room listening to it. I want to know what people think about it. What Jamaican people think and what other people think.
I am really interested in what we listen to and how we are and perceive reality? Like when you hear the first sentence in the newscast does it make you listen more or walk away? I think it’s interesting because this is the news every day in Jamaica. Graphic descriptions of homicides are common place. You can hear it a lot and you can see it. If you want you can listen to the track ‘The body of a nine year old girl’ on my soundcloud. So yea...check it out.
5. Where do you see yourself in 2030?
Yea...2030. I see myself making more spaces inspired by music all over the place....building my catalogue of tracks, developing my soundscaping techniques, and just working on this dj Afifa thing.
Well, all the best and we look forward to talking to you some more in the future.
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