On View

Jess X. Snow

Migration is Natural

A short animation uplifting Snow’s family migration journey and how the discovery of art can create a new home for migrant communities when borders divide and fail us.

Jess X. Snow. Migration is Natural, 2017. Video still.

Jess X. Snow tells stories in illustrations, poetry, and film. She folds all of those media into the animated short Migration Is Natural, an inspiring piece that depicts a shared human experience through Snow’s own. Snow also shares, “Ancestors who are not able to be visited or friends who are divided by borders can come together in a new world that exemplifies the future I want to see… Migration Is Natural is about that imagined reality. Sometimes we imagine things out of a deep necessity—it’s what helps us survive.” The imagery of Migration Is Natural is based on Snow’s own illustrations, and the script is her poetry, which she narrates.


About the Artist

Jess X. Snow is a queer asian-canadian public artist, filmmaker, poet and educator. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and is currently studying directing in the MFA program for film at the NYU Tisch School of The Arts. As a result of the migrations that marked her childhood, she developed a stutter which she overcame through her discovery of visual and written language. Her work explores survival, memory, joy, and our relationship to the Earth by amplifying the voices of women, queer people of color, and migrants who refuse to be defined by borders and time. Her public art and political graphics have appeared on PBS Newshour, The LA Times, the UN Human Rights Conference, NBC Asian America and outdoor walls across the country. She currently resides in Brooklyn, New York.