Brian Keith Jackson: Leaving Is the Hardest and Other Notes on a LIVED Life
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Spirit and Flesh magazine have a beautiful piece, featuring the musings of Brian Keith Jackson. “The celebrated author is a man who has worn many hats: actor, playwright, model, journalist, muse, and at times, restless traveler takes us on a rare journey. One which only he has traveled.”
Here’s an excerpt:
Leaving is the hardest and easiest thing about living abroad, because you become fully aware that it is a privilege many of those you leave don’t have,” says the nomadic modern scribe Brian Keith Jackson.
Which is probably why I lived abroad for eight years.
On progress: The novel I’m working on now is called “{sic}.” It’s quite different from my previous three. It takes place the early 90’s in the East Village. It’s a coming of age story and deals with being Black, young, gay, and in love during the height of the HIV crisis. I think it’s taken me so long because none of those things have really been important to people, so when you bunch them all together it’s truly beyond most. But is it? A great deal has changed in the worlds of publishing, art and film, for underrepresented “markets,” but there is still work to do, particularly as it pertains to the decisions makers, but I’m optimistic about the progress I’m seeing.
For me, words are visual and musical, so it’s like creating a painting or a score. I welcome possibilities.
Another reason it takes me a long time is that I retype every draft. Sure, I print it out, mark it up, but after I do so, I don’t just input the changes, I retype the entire manuscript. It takes a long time because I’m a slow typer and typo king. But I find it keeps me in tune with the text. Staying in the moment allows it to speak to me in a fresh new way. Keeps it fluid.
writer BRIAN KEITH JACKSON
photography by DANIEL MURTAGH
styling & production by CYNTHIA ALTORISO
backdrops by CHARLES BRODERSON
ALL MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHT SPIRIT AND FLESH 2019
From Chill magazine last year: Jackson shot to literary fame with his first novel The View From Here in 1997. Since then the Louisiana native published two subsequent novels as well as writing for outlets ranging from New York Magazine to the London Observer. His third novel The Queen of Harlem, is set before Harlem’s redevelopment and depicts the struggle of a man who reclaims his Black identity. Artist Kehinde Wiley named it one his favorite books in 2016.
Jackson and Wiley have been friends since 2001. Wiley, just graduated from Yale’s MFA program, was an Artist in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, which was like a second home to Jackson. “I was having a get together at my place and a mutual friend, the artist Adia Millett, brought him, thinking we should meet. At the time, there weren’t very many Black, gay guys in our fields, things were just starting to open up in the realm. I think that commonality connected us and we’ve been friends ever since. I’ve worked on various projects with him, particularly on his World Stage project, Brazil to Africa, the documentary, An Economy of Grace, which was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short, as well as Kehinde Wiley, which was published by Rizzoli. Jackson says it’s always an adventure with Wiley. “We’ve been through a lot together. We were detained for four days in a Black site in the Congo because local officials thought we were American spies trying to influence their election. We had no idea of our location, which I guess is what a Black site is for, and no one knew where we were. Completely off the grid. On the fifth day, representatives from the U.S. Embassy came to get us out. Ever seen that show, Locked Up Abroad? It was kind of like that, but with Black people and no drugs. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not suited for prison. It’s not a cute look. Still, I think it’s important to have people in your life that you can say, ‘Remember that time…’ But that only works if you continue adding to the story, making new memories together. With Kehinde the story always continues.”
