“The Creator only makes a painting once a day & every day that painting goes away.” – Dad, 2017
It’s now the summer of 2014, I received my Bachelor of Arts in History with a minor in Legal Policy from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Additionally, I was enjoying a much-needed break because for 16 years I had been in formal schooling and for 8 years competing as a full-time athlete. On one hand life was manageable and on the other hand if I could fire myself from being in charge of my life I would have. I was working part time as a substitute middle school teacher, a customer service rep at a local gym cleaning equipment and bathrooms, and a sales associate at Bath & Body Works. I was upset and bored because I thought that after school, I would be in law school studying to be the next Maxine Shaw, but in full transparency I did not take the necessary steps to do that. So honestly, I was right where I prepared myself to be – nowhere.
While I was home, I studied for the LSAT with the plan to go into school in Fall 2015. I took the test twice and both times I finished with a 135 LSAT score. I assumed I wouldn’t get into a school based on my 2.7 collegiate GPA, low LSAT scores, and zero job/research experience. One day I was talking with my mom, and she suggested I go get a master’s in social work. Immediately, I said no.
- I wanted my own identity. As the youngest member in the Hayes/Simpson clan I never felt I had an identity outside of my family’s until I moved to a place where I was the only Hayes/Simpson known.
- Who was tryna be Mariah Carey in Precious. That’s not cute and glamorous.
Needless to say, in 2015, I moved to Washington, DC and began my MSW program at Howard University (the Real HU). In the Spring of 2017, I was accepted into the international service program. The goal of the program was for us to learn about the social work profession outside the traditional American lens. Before I left, I asked family and friends if there was anything they wanted me to bring back. Folks said waist bead, jewelry, clothes, but my dad said “I just want pictures. I want to see what you experience.” By trade my dad is an artist but worked as a correctional officer for 25+ years in the New York State prison system. So that spring with a suitcase, a Sony a330 camera and zero expectations I went out of the country for the first time.
I just didn’t know this would be the start to my artbiography.
JPHazyLens Photography 