Art Heals Hearts and Helped Find Her True Self | Jaxtheartist
Jaxtheartist is a South African artist with a fascinating story. After years of working in the corporate world and exploring energy healing and personal growth, she finally followed her heart and became a full-time artist. In this interview, Jax opens up about her creative journey, how art became a way to heal and express herself, and what inspires her work.
She talks about how her art reflects her life experiences and spiritual growth, the creative process behind her pieces, and the deeper meaning of her favorite artwork. Jax also shares how experimenting with new techniques keeps her creativity alive and what she hopes people feel when they connect with her art. This conversation gives us a glimpse into the heart and soul behind Jax’s art and how it serves as a tool for healing and self-discovery.
Jaxtheartist was born in Pretoria, South Africa, in 1971. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Witwatersrand (SA), a Master Practitioner Certification in Neuro Linguistic Programming, and certification in Resonance Repatterning. After many years in the corporate world, she became an inspirational guide and energy healer before investing her time and energy in exploring and expressing her identity as an artist. Her art reflects her spiritual and personal development journey. By capturing different periods and experiences throughout her life, Jax uses her artworks to express the wholeness of her inner being. She uses art to process emotions, heal painful wounds, and create beautiful, uplifting impressions that capture her imagination, bring enjoyment, and benefit others. Each new creation provides insights into an aspect of self that she is getting to know, understand, heal, and integrate into the ultimate artwork—the creation of who she is and who she is becoming. Her ultimate desire is that her own expressions inspire others towards vulnerable sharing, spiritual upliftment, personal transformation, and wholeness.
1. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?
I was quite shy and introverted from the youngest age, often feeling invisible, different, isolated, and excluded. Looking back, I can see that being neurodiverse and not understanding my unique gifts at the time, the school system was difficult for me, but it did teach me the value of independence, commitment to growth, perseverance, and consistently showing up. My journey to embracing my artistic identity has not always been clear, easy, or a straight line. For many years, I was a seeker, trying different things, learning new skills, looking for my place of belonging, the vocation of my highest potential, a supportive and loving tribe, and growing in my confidence and sense of self.
I spent a large part of my life trying to understand myself, to remember and gather up the disassociated and fragmented parts of myself into one coherent, integrated whole. This has taken me on a very interesting journey of healing, self-discovery, and transformation. At some point, art became a very important part of this journey, revealing new parts of myself, deeper insights, and also a powerful way to heal and express my essence beyond words and intellectual ideas. At times, over the years, I did engage in formal art training with different teachers to empower myself with technical knowledge and understanding to confidently express myself and bring my inner world impressions to life with greater skill and depth.
Ultimately, however, my artwork expresses my essence and my soul’s voice. I strive to cultivate and maintain an internal feeling of curiosity, freedom, expansion, and play when creating. However, I often have to face some inner demons before being able to liberate myself from fear, limitations, and inhibitions as they arise. I create, using my heart works as a spiritual practice and a way to remain deeply connected to my core, innermost being, and highest self, as well as stay on the edge of my growth and ever-emerging identity.
In my art, I strive to capture the harmony between the material and the spiritual, the seen and the unseen world.
Jaxtheartist
2. Where do you find inspiration for your artwork?
Sometimes an image or a picture in the real world captures my attention. I think to myself, ‘Oooh, I love that. It’s so beautiful or intriguing, and I would love to capture it in form and infuse it with my own energy. Other times, I may receive an image in my mind’s eye either during meditation or sometimes just standing in the shower. When this happens, I have such a deep sense that I must bring it to life. Or I may find myself getting curious about a particular artist’s tool or medium, like a palette knife, a catalyst wedge, colored chalks, textured paste, or gold leaf, or sometimes a form of art therapy like zentangle or neurotrophic captures my attention. When this happens, I feel called to play and experiment with these to see and feel how they work and how they can be woven into a piece of artwork.
Lastly, there are just times when I just show up in front of the canvas, and something wants to be birthed through me. The process begins with a shape or a color, and then as I put brush and paint to paper, the creation just flows through me, emerging onto the page without me having any idea at all what I am bringing through. On reflection, I can see things that bring new understandings and awareness. While all of these scenarios are different, they have in common that I feel a very strong heart connection to what I am creating, and I feel compelled to breathe life into it. No matter how these inspirations come to me, I believe these pieces are initiated as seeds from my soul that want to be planted. They invite me to get curious and play with them until they grow into something meaningful.
3. Can you tell us about a particular piece of art that holds special meaning for you?
“I Speak Butterfly” holds a special meaning for me because it is a joyous celebration of my own personal journey toward self-awareness, healing, and harmonious integration of all aspects of myself. It represents an ultimate transformation into becoming a coherent, whole-hearted human being with the confidence to express my authentic voice and step into a life of freedom and beauty. The painting is a spiritual growth, healing, transformation, and integration narrative. It explores the interplay between the physical body, the chakra centers, and the nurturing power of nature, celebrating the journey toward self-realization and wholeness.
The central figure, a woman’s body, represents the unity of diverse human experiences and the harmony between light and shadow within the soul, essential for spiritual balance and growth. The background of the artwork, filled with vibrant colors and flowers, symbolizes the healing power of nature. The large orange butterfly and multi-colored butterflies emerging from a woman’s mouth represent transformation, self-expression, and finding one’s authentic voice. The faceless head, blending from dark to light, signifies the universal nature of human experience and invites viewers to see themselves in the image. The blue spiky image with golden flecks in the throat area represents the throat chakra, emphasizing the need for clear communication and authentic self-expression. The green heart with a gold center symbolizes love, compassion, and empathy, serving as a beacon of healing and bridging human and divine aspects.
The golden scar on the shoulder represents healing and resilience, inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi. The golden human body at the solar plexus signifies inner strength and personal power, while the angelic form in the pelvic area embodies creative and life-giving energies. The swirling vortexes of orange and red tones at the base of the image represent the dynamic energy of the root and sacral chakras, grounding and vitalizing the individual. This artwork celebrates the journey toward self-awareness, healing, and harmonious integration of all aspects of oneself, ultimately transforming into a coherent, whole-hearted human being. It invites viewers to explore their shadow aspects, bringing them into conscious awareness and integrating them into themselves. The facelessness challenges viewers to seek deeper self-awareness and uncover hidden messages from their souls.
4. What role does experimentation play in your art practice?
I tend to get bored very quickly and am always pushing to discover where my own edges are. I believe that as human beings, we have unlimited potential to expand, grow, and change. There are always new parts of ourselves to be discovered and new identities to be forged. I love trying something new, learning, growing, and then mastering a particular technique or form. Sometimes it is a mistake that leads to my most interesting piece of work or taking one piece and cutting or tearing it up and using it in another piece Over the years, I have experimented with a wide variety of art media, including oils, acrylics, pencil drawings, pastels, pen, grey-tone chalk, and ink.
My body of work is varied and diverse in medium and content, from the freedom of scribblings and experimentation with color mixing, abstract forms, exploring textures, and the borders of my own imagination, evolving to more carefully, painstakingly measured, scaled, shaded, and executed structured pieces. While I think there is an underlying golden thread that runs through each and every creation, I feel that by giving myself permission to play and experiment, I keep learning new things about myself and discovering new edges while also finding deep enjoyment and fulfillment in the process. When I am playing without expectation, pressure, or attachment to the outcome, this is when I feel most amazed, amused, connected, fulfilled, and content.
By connecting with my spiritual light, I aim to create works that resonate with my own soul and the viewer’s, bringing personal healing and expansion while also fostering a sense of unity, understanding, and transformation.
Jaxtheartist
5. What do you hope people take away from experiencing your art?
The art is intended to be more than just aesthetically pleasing; it may sometimes be shocking or make the viewer a bit uncomfortable. However, it is meant to serve as a catalyst for my audience to connect with their own personal perspective and embark on their own journeys of self-reflection and healing. By engaging with these pieces, viewers are encouraged to explore their personal experiences, emotions, and spiritual quests. The art invites them to delve into their inner worlds, fostering a deeper understanding of themselves and their place in the world. A key aspect of this artistic vision is the transformation of past wounds or challenges into sources of strength and beauty.
This transformation is not about erasing or denying past experiences but about integrating them into one’s narrative to promote understanding, resilience, and wholeness. Viewers can find a path toward healing and self-acceptance by acknowledging and embracing their vulnerabilities. Ultimately, the art encourages viewers to embrace their true selves without apology. This involves recognizing and valuing one’s unique experiences, emotions, and perspectives. By doing so, individuals can move towards a more authentic and fulfilling life where they feel empowered to express themselves honestly and live in alignment with their deepest values and aspirations. In essence, the heartworks is a call to introspection, healing, and self-love, using the power of art to inspire personal growth, expansion, spiritual evolution, and self-expression.
Jax’s story shows how art can heal and help us understand ourselves better. Through her work, she turns life’s challenges into strength and beauty, encouraging others to accept who they truly are. Her journey reminds us that art isn’t just about creating—it’s about finding peace and connection within ourselves. To learn more about Jax, visit the links below.
