Named after the native flower that vines and blooms throughout South Carolina, JESSAMINE intends to interconnect girls, trans youth, and gender nonconforming youth in South Carolina by creating a disbursable project for creative youths to not only contribute to, but also own a copy of their own work. JESSAMINE is a printed and digital amalgamation of art, poetry, essays, stories, playlists, collage, and other art made to represent the chosen theme of each volume.
This year's theme is POWER. This volume of JESSAMINE includes work from South Carolina-based youth, as well as interviews from prominent organizers and advocates of youth power. The creativity, honesty, and vibrance of our contributors are what made this first volume so formidable. Carolina Youth Action Project envisions a South Carolina transformed by the radical organizing of girls, trans youth, and gender nonconforming youth, where our communities work collectively to dismantle the existing structures of domination, violence, and punishment that shape their lives and create spaces for growth and healing in their place.
We hope that in addition to supporting this goal, JESSAMINE becomes a network of creative resistance, solidarity, and connection for years to come.