Author and artist Jaydra Johnson talks about her book "Low, notes on art and trash" at the OPB studios on January 27, 2025.
Jess Hazel / OPB
Jaydra Johnson sees beauty in the discarded.
As an artist, author and public high school teacher, Johnson has developed her idea of ‘trash art:’ works of art that transform dirty, uncomfortable or disregarded items and people into sources of inspiration.
OPB “Morning Edition” host Jess Hazel spoke with Johnson about her new book “Low: Notes on Art and Trash.”
The following transcript has been edited for clarity and length.
Jess Hazel: A lot of this book is you defining and then exploring and upending, what trash means both historically and philosophically. Do you think other people should try to change their perspective about what our society deems disposable? What could we gain as a community if our ideas about trash get upended?
Jaydra Johnson: I think we can get our lives back and our dignity back. One beautiful thing that I feel like was instilled in me from growing up in Oregon is the ethic of kind of making something from nothing. There’s so much power in being able to take care of oneself and one’s community through ingenuity. And through taking what other people deem useless and showing that it has use.
So there’s that very practical side of it. There’s also this kind of spiritual, emotional side of it. Where we’re fundamentally reorienting from what the larger culture teaches us, which is that pretty much everything is disposable, things should be instant. It’s a lot about like reverence and appreciation, and I think from that can come a lot of like pride and gratitude for what we have.
Hazel: I think some will be surprised to hear that there is a history of trash art at all, but it seems pretty extensive. What surprised you during that process of finding and chronicling this history?
Johnson: I think overall I was just really pleasantly surprised by the richness and really amazed at what I didn’t know. This really was my journey of learning about art, and I chose to kind of specialize in trash art and what is the value of art that’s illegible, confusing, violent, loud, hard to look at. Obviously this entire book is kind of about difficult art. Art that’s stinky. Art that’s kind of broken.
“— Jaydra Johnson, "Low, notes on art and trash"What makes people pick comfort over integrity, money over eternity? I don’t understand it. I think World War 3 started yesterday, or maybe it’s been happening this whole time.”
Hazel: Where have you found community in Portland of other artists who are also thinking about transformational art?
Johnson: I was honestly shocked at how vibrant the art scene actually is in Portland and around Oregon. One thing I love about Oregon is that there is a very intrepid, humble spirit here where there’s not a lot of elitism. People aren’t really chasing clout. There’s not really much clout to chase here.
Hazel: Your writing touches on a lot of the current state of the world, everything from talking about mass incarceration to talking about the war in Ukraine. It seems like it was right at the start of that conflict that you wrote the last piece in the book, “The Art of War.”
Would you mind reading the highlighted part that I have?
Johnson: What makes people pick comfort over integrity, money over eternity? I don’t understand it. I think World War 3 started yesterday, or maybe it’s been happening this whole time. It’s merely my perception or awareness that changes.
Hazel: I think there’s so much uncertainty right now, so many questions that don’t necessarily have answers. How can we use trash and art to get through these times?
Johnson: There is a beauty to accepting and really looking at what’s going on in front of us and really allowing ourselves to feel buried underneath the horror. And I think that’s a lot of what that piece is about for me. Then also saying, ‘OK, well, if that’s the reality, what are we gonna do about it?’ And then looking to how people have dealt with issues like this before.
I think there’s just so much we can learn from looking at the margins and seeing the creative ways that people are surviving and thriving and fighting back against everything that would trash us.
