In Floating between Chaos and Peace, Alethia Jones explores her personal mental health through painting. Utilizing vibrant, neon colors, Jones creates fantastical landscapes, or dreamscapes, sprinkled with hints of recognizable objects. Though made with paint on canvas, the works have a collage-like quality to them, furthering ideas of sampling different experiences and emotions. 

Alethia told Sala Diaz,” Like so many people on the planet, I have spent the majority of my life living with mental illness. After years of anger, sadness, and uncertainty, I was finally diagnosed with ADHD and Schizophrenia. The number of humans with mental illnesses on the planet has been increasing each year, with no end in sight. This body of work exposes the helplessness of one grappling with negative current events, but also suggests that hope does exist, and there is still much beauty to behold in this world.

With this statement in mind, the viewer is left to question where the line between helplessness and beauty exists, and how the things we feel and see in our own minds, are a reality all their own. Contrasting ideas of creation and destruction, real-world tragedies and moments of beauty, entwine in this series of work. 

About Alethia Jones

Alethia Jones is a Dallas Texas native, calling San Antonio home since 2009.  After spending several years pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fashion design, Jones left school and explored various endeavors, attempting to forge an alternate career path. After experimenting with jewelry making and leather-crafting, she began painting on canvas. Her first painting, titled, “Victory”, was completed in 2018.

Alethia Jones’ work primarily focuses on spirituality, mental illness, and lucid dreams. She has showcased her work at R Space, Dock Space Gallery, Black Dot Studio, Clamp Light Art Gallery, and San Antonio’s Culture Commons.  She has also exhibited her work at San Antonio’s first Black art studio, In The Eye of The Beholder Art Gallery.  Jones’ paintings have been featured on the cover of La Prensa San Antonio, The Lone Star Art District’s website, and Glasstire’s list of 100 Black Artists in Texas to Watch.