photograph by janaye brown
A scene from A Golden Hour.
Filmmaker and artist Janaye Brown shares her art with Memphians with her three-part film series, “Summer in Shanghai,” which is showing at Crosstown Arts until March 26th. Brown, having completed a residency with Crosstown Arts in 2018, believes Memphis “is a special place to show work, because people there are responsive, generous viewers.” Just recently, Memphis Magazine had the pleasure of catching up with Brown about her journey as an artist and current exhibit.
photograph courtesy janaye brown
Janaye Brown
Brown was raised in Livermore, California, and she recalls that she was attracted to films and filmmaking as a means of imaginary escape. “I always wanted to be a filmmaker,” she says, “and growing up in a bit of a sleepy suburb made my main mode of transportation watching films.” Her early passion for watching films evolved into her own filmmaking process of creating stories open for viewer interpretation while still retaining a personal touch. She notes, “I really love the feeling of being brought into other places, stories, and experiences.”
Currently based in Berlin, Germany, Brown aims to create films that bring herself and others closer to the small charms of quotidian life. She says, “I am interested in everyday situations that are familiar to my experience and often overlooked.” Rather than passing by seemingly mundane moments, Brown finds new “significance, beauty, and interest” — and in turn, inspiration.
Brown elaborates that noticing these moments “is sometimes a logical, but more often than not, intuitive experience. I trust my gut when I feel something has the power to speak to what it is, but also beyond what it is.”
Her curiosity grew while living in Shanghai from 2019 to 2021. Originally intending to stay there for a year, the rise of the Covid pandemic in 2020 presented an unexpected opportunity. While the rest of the world faced an unforeseeable future, Shanghai adhered to an alternate lifestyle. Brown says that “the experience in Shanghai was different. Early in the pandemic, shortly after the initial outbreak, numbers were reportedly very low, and you could go out, go to restaurants, see your friends, and do whatever you wanted within reason.” This gave way to a new project for Brown, a three-part video series depicting the summer season and hidden beauty found amongst the people and culture in Shanghai. This project would eventually become “Summer in Shanghai.”
Organized into three short films — Plum Rain, Ships Passing, and A Golden Hour — Brown connects her individual experience of being a foreigner with China’s irregular weather patterns, the culture, and her reality.
photograph by janaye brown
A scene from Plum Rain, by Janaye Brown.
The common thread across the films “corresponds with the lunar calendar’s solar terms used to delineate the seasons.” Brown explains further that her pieces follow Shanghai’s weather sequence starting with “the tropical rainy season, then the big heat, or Dashu, referring to the hottest and brightest days of the year, and finally, the last of the summer days or Chushu, ending and leading into the fall, which is the most gorgeous time in Shanghai.”
When Brown was filming in 2020, Shanghai experienced the longest sequence of rainy days in the past 20 years. Typically, Shanghai’s rainy season lasts for an average of 23 days, 19 days less than what Brown encountered in 2020.
While watching the series, the viewer may notice the number of people looking directly at the camera. Brown was aware of this detail, and relates it to her experience living in Shanghai. “As a biracial, Black foreigner, my everyday experience included people staring at me. For a long time, this was extremely difficult.”
With her thoughtful cinematography and keen eye, Brown captures the seasons and extreme weather patterns in a calm and humbling way. The extremity of the weather is emphasized with a shot from NASA, showing the movement of clouds cast over Shanghai for nearly the entire summer. Brown explains that shot “in the title sequence in Plum Rain, you see the clouds moving and the weather front happening but also the cloudiness that doesn’t just disappear.” When showing the weather patterns and understanding the context of the film, it is easy to adapt to a negative or fearful mindset. What will happen in these conditions? What disaster will the future hold?
Yet, when continuing to observe the series of films, the viewer finds an inherent peace as depicted through the shots of the city. The most beautiful of these shots are the images that include the great plane trees, brought to Shanghai by the French long ago, casting long shadows on those strolling below. In these moments, viewers can see subtle moments like a boy riding his scooter and almost crashing into an old man, or three women ‘cat walking’ and strutting their stuff. ‘Catwalking,’ a brief trend taking Shanghai by storm, was a way for people to work out and prepare themselves for local catwalking competitions. Brown elaborates that one of the women in her film ran the catwalking competitions and “she would send me all these videos of the competitions and even encourage me to join.”
photograph by janaye brown
A scene from Ships Passing, by Janaye Brown.
These images urge viewers to look for commonalities rather than differences, despite the geographic and cultural distance. Brown finds that even in extreme weather conditions, “people are happy in the park. There’s a lot of energy, and it’s a constant celebration of life.”
While watching the series, the viewer may notice the number of people looking directly at the camera. Brown was aware of this detail, and relates it to her experience living in Shanghai. “As a biracial, Black foreigner, my everyday experience included people staring at me. For a long time, this was extremely difficult.”
Taking into consideration Brown’s experience, it becomes clear that the films are not only about the weather but about what is happening behind the camera and around it. Below the surface, the filmmaker questions how we confront unfamiliarity and discomfort in our lives. She observes, “I had been living on the periphery of Chinese culture in Shanghai, which is easy to do as a foreigner in China. It can be hard to connect.” When confronted with the reality of having to stay in Shanghai for another year, Brown knew “I wanted to integrate with my local community, and I wanted to do this with my art practice.” It was not long until she became amazed “at how quickly people accepted and embraced me and my practice. As difficult as it was to put myself out there and allow myself to be vulnerable, it was worthwhile.”
When stepping beyond the feelings of fear and comfort, Brown says that “you're forced to actively see, break your routines, and turn your attention to the things you ignore.” Instead of avoiding discomfort, she urges the viewer to maintain an open mind.
You can catch “Summer in Shanghai” at Crosstown Arts until March 26th, and see more of Brown’s work on her website.
