As a young child growing up in India, Jaya Kang found herself with endless questions about the world and the state of it. She was an overthinker, and found the best way to make sense of this constant wonder was to give form to her thoughts through visual media. She began with photographs, then as she aged found an interest in fashion and textiles, and then into the fine arts. This extensive experience and knowledge of such varied art forms has allowed her to rise to the top of her field as a seasoned art director, creating well-rounded work that grabs the attention of her target audience.
As an internationally sought-after art director, Kang leads the overall aesthetic and conceptual vision of any given project. She works with brands, musicians, artists, actors, dancers and everyone in between. A highlight of her esteemed career was when Grammy award winner Latroit, asked Kang to work for him and his music studio White House Music as an art director, working on a few album covers, single covers, music videos and even an apparel line that is soon to come. She has been the art director for East of Borneo magazine, collaborated with Actress Ajani Russell (Betty, Skate Kitchen) on an upcoming photo campaign, and worked with the hiking brand Arc’teryx on a new photo campaign. She is extremely diversified in her work, and her talent is evident in whatever type of project she is taking on.
“We live in a world where your visual language creates your brand and sets you apart from everyone else, so having an art director on your team for campaigns and projects can help create a strong brand identity. Social Media continues to become a bigger part of our lives every day and we consume so much digital media, spending hours of screen time a day that if you want your identity or brand to stand out, you must have a strong and catchy visual language that sets trends. As an art director that is what I excel at. I foreshadow trends and aesthetics and help my clients embody those while staying true to their own styles,” said Kang.
Most recently, Kang teamed up with Actor Brandon Perea, best known for his role in the hit Netflix series The OA and one stars in the upcoming Jordan Peele film Nope, on a collaboration with the popular apparel company Hollister. As the lead Art Director on the project, Kang created a photo series that will be releasing over the next 6 months for the hollister x latinx campaign.
“I have grown up wearing and loving Hollister. When I was a kid growing up in India, we didn’t have a Hollister store there, but my grandfather and cousins would visit America every year and bring us back shirts, jeans or hoodies from there. They would always be my most cherished clothes, so when I learned that I had the opportunity to have my work featured by them I was eager to jump onto this project,” said Kang.
Kang became a part of the project when Perea found her work on Instagram and instantly knew she was the perfect art director to bring this collaboration to life. When Kang came on board, she decided to create a photo series showcasing some of Perea’s skills outside of acting, such as rollerblading, breakdancing and BMX. To capture this, they worked with the photographer Brooklynn White, who is very skilled at capturing movement and making it look effortless. As all of the images have Perea dancing, biking, skating, and more, they needed a photographer who could represent the many different motions and still capture the clothing clearly. The campaign will introduce these unique aspects and skills of Perea’s to the world as they get to know this up-and-coming actor, all while keeping in mind the very nostalgic California Hollister aesthetic. Kang made sure to execute that vision.
“Working with Jaya was creative, energetic and refreshing. She brings a new fresh perspective to content creation through her skills in art direction. She considered my vision as well as bringing her own aesthetic sense,” said Perea. “Jaya is talented in a lot of ways but something that is so unique about working with her is her strong sense of aesthetic. She uses her natural and cultivated skill in creating spaces and atmospheres that suit the brand or subject at hand to bring the projects she works on to their highest potential. She is exceptionally talented and easy to work with.”
The hollister x latinx campaign is still in the process of rolling out. It will run all the way through February 2022. Every month, Hollister will be sharing a new set of the images that Kang and her team created. The first set was published in July and received over 9000 likes and was shared on Hollister’s 5.1 million follower account. On top of this, the clothes are being worn by many young kids on TikTok, Instagram etc and are doing extremely well as customers see their favorite influencers wearing them. Kang is honored to be leading such a successful project and generating such buzz for Hollister.
“I love that the story of the project represents the multifaceted personality that Brandon has. Many people think that trying too many new things takes you away from the focus of one thing, but I truly believe that having multiple interests makes you even stronger in everything you do because you bring to the table a plethora of skills. Being multifaceted is a great thing and to be passionate about many things is something that every kid should be encouraged to do. Beyond his incredible acting skills, Brandon’s variety of talents make him unique, and it is important to tell young kids to embrace their own individuality. Hollister’s audience is very much this age range and responds very well to this messaging,” Kang concluded.
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