Jameel Haiat

Year of birth: Long time ago…hahaha.
Where do you live: Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Your education: Bachelor of Art – Fine Arts / California State University at Los Angeles.
Describe your art in three words: Organic, Raw, Emotive.
Your discipline: Mixed Media.
Website | Instagram

Your art reflects deeply personal themes of trauma, violence, and recovery. How does your experience as a cancer survivor shape your creative process?

When you first hear the words, “You have cancer”, it truly forces you to face your own mortality. That experience and the vulnerability that comes with wondering if you will be here tomorrow have shown me what is most important in life, which is time. So with that in mind, I wake up daily, around 4:30 or 5am,  to start my day living life the way I want to, which is to create something every single day. It has opened me to new ideas, helped me to create a new art vocabulary and driven me towards a whole new series of work, which I’ve aptly titled the “Black” series. 

Being creative has always been part of who I am, but now as a cancer survivor, it is like breathing, required and keeping me alive. 

You describe the act of tearing paper and cardboard as both deconstructive and violent. How do you see this duality in your work—what does it represent for you on a personal level? 

I feel that this process, specifically the tearing aspect, is a way to purge and release some of the emotional memory from my past, specifically from my youth and the abuse and trauma I went through. It’s a way to breakdown what was, through an artistic ritual that is only meant for me. Although the physical act is one of deconstruction, in reality it’s an abstraction of violence such as chiseling a block of stone or carving a piece of wood might be. I believe that fabricating something from nothing is incredibly creative, but can also be a somewhat violent act just by nature. It’s almost like giving birth. There’s pain, there’s blood, but then there’s life. 

In contrast, once I reassemble and reconstruct the torn bits into an assembly, it’s a way to rebuild from that darkness and create something beautiful that represents healing and survival.  

Jameel Haiat | Cascade | 2025

Your creative process involves both conscious decision-making and unconscious actions. How do you balance these two elements in your work, and do you ever feel that the process takes control of you?

I actually work on trying to focus on what is occurring at that moment. Whatever decisions of creativity are made, I welcome them and they can come about organically whether I have much input consciously or not. I love to become so mesmerized by the physical act of tearing that I forget where I am, and for how long I’ve been doing it. Letting go of control to my inner self, to that secret voice that takes over my hands, my eyes, my vision is the most liberating and incredibly joyful experience you can imagine. It’s like when I stand in a vibrant rice field here where I live, while gazing out onto the land and mountains, it’s beautiful and overwhelming. 

In your work, you explore the themes of pain, trauma, and their impact on others. Can you elaborate on how these themes have been influenced by your cultural heritage, growing up in Los Angeles with a Pakistani father and Mexican/American mother?

Being a product of two different cultures, my parents were quite liberal, yet could be incredibly violent and explosive. The end of a bad day at work could end with physical abuse that landed painfully upon myself and by brothers. It was a difficult childhood and youth.  

But as an artist, I believe experiences such as these mold us and give us vision if we open ourselves up to that idea. The trauma of the abuse I went through, including being bullied throughout my youth impacted me deeply, but I was able to take that pain and turn it into something visual, something beautiful. I didn’t allow it to fester or turn into hate, although of course there were challenges addressing my emotions through the years. So now I speak openly about my traumatic childhood and the abuse so that I can hopefully, either be a voice for those that need a voice, or educate others on what not to do. Realizing one’s impact on others can be applied to not only abuse, but also war and other forms of violence that create tragedy and mayhem in all peoples lives. 

Jameel Haiat | Leave It in the Rice Field | 2024

The medium you work with—mixed media and torn materials—seems to have a rawness and immediacy. How does the  physicality of the materials you use influence the emotional and conceptual depth of your pieces?

I love texture and exploring boundaries of shape, and do believe that one of the reasons I choose paper and cardboard as my main medium is because the torn edges remind me of raw emotions and physical damage. I also love that these materials can be used easily and quickly to forge such an emotional connection between my process and the completed work. 

I also believe that using paper brings a certain physical “light” to contrast some of the “dark” concepts and issues that I usually express in my work. 

To add even further contrast, I also implement nails into my pieces as an aesthetic reminder that violence and pain are just there, right at the surface ready to be felt.  

Lastly, I believe that the use of these mostly recycled materials connect with the viewer as they see these materials daily and use them in their own lives regularly. 

What role do your travels and experiences abroad play in shaping your artwork? Can you share any specific moments or locations that had a profound impact on your creative vision?

There’s no doubt that travel and living abroad has played a big part in my work. I feel that there’s no better way to gain great perspective on self and others than to travel. I specifically have been lucky enough to travel to places that tend to be more grounded, such as Cuba, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, amongst others, and it’s in these places that I’ve met incredible people and experienced amazing culture. These types of countries where life can be more difficult and the people have less material wealth, versus Western countries, have such incredible stories to share, both tragic and triumphant. 

Although all the places I’ve visited have influenced me deeply, my trip to Myanmar a few years back, in between the civil war and junta, was incredibly eye opening. There I saw the difficulty of how daily life can be in such a complex place and how it’s people share community even during suffering through regime. 

Cambodia also influenced me as I saw the first hand results of war on people. Even with missing limbs, people there with their strength, resolution and smiles trying to scratch out a living were ingrained in my mind. 

All of these places are now part of my art vocabulary and represented within my work as well. I am especially guided and driven by all of the difficulties and hardships that people within these countries have endured. 

Even now, one of my newest series, “Chiang Mai, Change Me” is about how my current home of Chiang Mai, Thailand has altered me and continues to mold me as not just an artist, but as a human being. 

Jameel Haiat | Rupture | 2024

How does your identity as a product of two cultures influence your artistic voice and perspective on the world?

Growing up multicultural, wasn’t so influential as much as the location of where we lived, East Los Angeles, where there was plenty of street violence. My own family, all my Uncles in fact, participated in this criminal way of life their entire lives and seeing that and living around that greatly influenced me. At that time, as an introvert, it drove me to actually stay off the streets more, thus guiding me to be more creative inside my home. All that violence, including at home, still directly influences my work. Now I feel that I must be as much of an advocate as possible on issues that I experienced and witnessed in my youth so that others may connect and feel heard that are still living these lives.