Jaiquan Fayson is a visual artist and arts educator born and raised in New York, whose oil paintings and sketch portraits attempt to establish an empathetic connection. While incarcerated and in solitary confinement as a young adult, Fayson used his ability to draw as a means of self-directed therapy and a tool for introspection. Fayson earned the Silas H Rhodes Scholarship for artistic and academic achievement before completing his BFA (2015) in Illustration at the School of Visual Arts. With a desire to inspire the next generation of artists, Fayson is currently employed as an art educator in the NYC Public Schools system while in the final semester of his Master’s in Art Education.
Most recently, Fayson participated in HBO’s The O.G. Experience exhibition; was featured in Drawing Freedom, a short documentary about art as a means of therapy, produced by Motto Pictures for the Healthy US Collaborative; and was featured as a subject in author Craig Taylor’s 2022 book New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time. He is a 2023 Right of Return Fellow and Art for Justice Fellow. His work has been featured in publications including the New York Times, ArtNews, Hyperallergic, and WNYC. Fayson continues to explore art as a means of learning, expression and communication.