HOOD BY O by Jay & Tjo, featuring Bloody Osiris
On the occasion of the release of "HOOD BY O", let us look back at the collaboration between Tjo and Jay, featuring Bloody Osiris.
This Friday, May 21, HOOD BY O, the fruit of weeks of work, can be found on the KnownOrigin platform. First of all, let us introduce the artists behind this project: First of all, let us meet Tjo, a multi-talented artist who has been inspired by Basquiat and his peers, and who was introduced to PAO at the age of 14. Before the coronavirus crisis, he took a video production training which was not completed because of the crisis. Making the most of the situation, he borrowed his girlfriend's painting materials and experimented until he got exhausted. To take things further, he decided to mix the mediums and made collages and drawings. He, then used Photoshop to redraw them several times until he felt pleased with his work. Today his work is his outlet. As soon as he wakes up he gets down to it and spends his days producing works that he will later sell in an NFT format. After a joint project with Evan Mock for a clothing collection, Tjo received a lot of job offers in New York. It was also by setting foot in the underground world of New York street wear that he met Jay . As for Jay, whose real name is Jamal Arokium, he is a photographer based in New York. He specialized in 35mm films. His career began in 2016 with very little advertising. Thanks to networking and his “on the go” mentality, he was able to make a name for himself until he was recognised for his work.
From an early age his obsession with photography was obvious and he was offered his first disposable camera by his mother. He was fascinated by the world of wrestling, its characters and their very photogenic looks. He found it a great source of inspiration. All of this fuelled his desire to capture life, people, points of view and stories that he felt could only be told through photographs, images and colours.
It is therefore in December 2020 following their meeting that Tjo and Jay officially launched their project. After many discussions Jay and Osiris (the model) met and shot the photographs that would be sent to Tjo. The latter began by printing the pictures four or five times to draw on them, cut them out, glue them back and so on. After testing, retouching with photoshop, reprocessing and redrawing numerous times following a process as long as it was complex, a masterpiece was born : HOOD BY O, where Bloody Orisis the famous stylist can be seen wearing an exclusive HOOD BY AIR piece.
Jay's sensitivity and Tjo's creative post-production have been put at the service of something greater that transcribes Bloody Osiris’ singularity and uniqueness. With one picture everything he found his place: the place of an African-American who had complicated beginnings and who today is rising to the top of the fashion world. This work encourages reflection on our dreams, goals, hopes and who we are.
This is an ambitious piece of work, just like its creators, Tjo and Jay, two trendy artists that we will soon hear about again, perhaps at the end of a new collaboration. Who knows?
Written by Lina Sahnouni