In this edition of our “Artist Spotlight” series we showcase Melody You (COM’20), former social media director of Charcoal Magazine.
Tell us about yourself.
I am a graduate of BU’s COM Class of 2020, where I studied advertising. I’m from Atlanta, Georgia.
What’s your Charcoal story?
Bradley Noble, one of the creative directors of Charcoal, was actually the one who introduced me to the magazine and asked if I would like to take over as social media director for this year.
Although I have only been on E-Board since this past January, the experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met through this magazine have been so rewarding.
Charcoal’s mission really speaks to me as it aims to spotlight student artists of color and give them a platform in which their voices can be heard and their art can be celebrated. As a Chinese-American who grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood in Georgia, I found myself subconsciously suppressing my Asian culture in many ways just so that I could “fit in” with my peers.
Representation is incredibly important to me and that’s why I believe that more publications like Charcoal should exist on student campuses so that more students of color feel empowered to embrace their culture and express themselves fully and unapologetically.
Describe your art.
For Charcoal’s “Ennui” issue, I submitted a collage that I made during quarantine (see below). I took different photographs and prints to create my dream landscape, which I see as an escape from reality. I’ve also launched an on-going creative quarantine project on Instagram called “Album Receipts” since graduating from college, where I take different music albums and visually represent them in the form of receipts.
Editor’s note: As of the writing of this spotlight, Melody’s “Album Receipts” Instagram account has over 112,000 followers and her work has been shared by the likes of Kacey Musgraves, Teyana Taylor, Carly Rae Jepsen, Gunna, and Ariana Grande.
A dream landscape, by Melody You.
