Born, raised, and based in Brooklyn, NY, Jaiquan Fayson is a visual artist whose oil paintings and sketch portraits attempt to establish an empathetic connection to people in his environment. While incarcerated and in solitary confinement as a young adult, Jaiquan used his ability to draw as a means of
self-directed therapy and a tool for introspection. Seeking to break his cycle of recidivism, Jaiquan earned the Silas H Rhodes Scholarship for Artistic and Academic achievement before completing his BFA (2015) in Illustration at The School of Visual Arts.
In 2020 Jaiquan participated in HBO’s O.G, an art show commemorating their revolutionary prison film. He was featured in Drawing Freedom, a short documentary released in 2021 about art as a means of therapy, produced by Motto Pictures for the Healthy US Collaborative. Additionally, in 2021 he was
featured as a subject in a chapter of Craig Taylor’s book, New Yorkers A City and Its People in Our time, winner of the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize. With a desire to be a conducive member of society and hoping to inspire the next generation of artists, Jaiquan is currently employed as a part-time
art educator in the NYC Public School system. In 2023 he completed his MAT at the School of Visual Arts. He also received the Art 4 Justice grant, and he is a 2023 Right of Return Fellow. Jaiquan continues to explore art as a means of learning, expression, and communication.
