non binary uk punk artist jacob v joyce is inspired by african & caribbean revolutionaries

Jacob V Joyce is a non binary interdisciplinary artist whose mission is to “disrupt commercial and community spaces with queer and decolonial, creative interventions.” Inspired by African deities and African and Caribbean revolutionaries, Joyce pokes fun at racism and cissexism in creatively humorous, yet powerful ways through their zines, music, workshops, clothing, and other forms of art.

Growing up in Mitcham in south London, Joyce told Dazed in a recent interview that they have been creating and critiquing oppression since childhood. From a very young age, Joyce was able to recognize instances of sexism or racism in situations like his mother’s misdiagnosis of throat cancer (“people don’t listen to women”) and the underrepresentation of people of color, and used that to fuel their work (“I was trying to make myself visible and respond to not seeing myself represented in the cartoons and films I was watching”).

Most well-known for their zines, Joyce is also part of artist collective sorryyoufeeluncomfortable, and fronts the punk band Screaming Toenail, whose music you can check out below:

As if that resume isn’t extensive enough, the multi-talented artist has also curated a number of exhibitions including the two week Brixton based festival Survival Guides which featured art works, performances and workshops by over 50 artists. They were also one of many activists involved in organizing the five London Queer Social Centres and more recently the QTIPOC (queer trans intersex people of colour) lead/centred Queer Picnic. On top of the zine making, art curation, and music, Joyce also does spoken word poetry, workshops, and lectures, and most recently did a Tedx talk critiquing tokenism and white liberalism:

Check out more images from their first zine White Boys below, and more of their work at their website.