Meet Jill Johnson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jill Johnson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jill, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I’ll start with what I think my purpose is – it’s to be an educator and an artist, in that order. I think finding my purpose was something that I’ve been striving for my entire life. When I was a kid I had this dream of being a popstar researcher, whatever that meant in my tiny mind. Researching popstars? Being a popstar while researching? Both? I ended up becoming both, and I think it synthesizes my interests and therefore my purpose pretty well.

Anyway, most of my family on my mom’s side have been educators. My aunts and my cousins were a motivating example for me from an early age – they showed me the behind the scenes of a classroom and encouraged me with all the wonders knowledge of the world could bring.

My family also encouraged my artistry at a young age, even by gifting me a toy drum set at the age of 4 or 5. I would bang around and my parents would tolerate it, even enjoy it (I hope). My grandmother gifted me art sets as a kid too, it was a really special and loving environment with a motto of “You can be anything you want to be.” I thought of that motto and thought of the wildest things like a theoretical physicist, film director, and what I finally landed on.

To think that I found my purpose is so strange because everyone strives for a purpose but no one knows what that is, they just find it on the path that they’re leading. Somehow I got where I am right now, which is as an instructor at a non-profit called CodeCrew as well as the artist known as W1ND0W. My purpose is to share knowledge and art with the world and I’m really proud to stand firmly with that and see how it grows as I grow.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a multi-disciplinary musician and scholar who loves noise and channeling my perceptions of the world into unique experiences.

I was raised in a small town north of Memphis – Munford, TN. It was a weird place to grow up because it was so close to this bolstering town but gated away from its reality by about an hour’s drive. My friends AFK were in Memphis through anime and comic scenes, while friends in cyberspace were physically distant, but closer than anyone. There was a rift between who I presented myself as in these differing spaces, both crafting the distinct person who I embody now.

When I went to college in 2016 I knew I wanted to be an engineer in some capacity. As I developed, it distilled down to an obsession with artificial intelligence and all that could mean and be. I graduated with a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies of Electrical Engineering & Cognitive Neuroscience. This together landed me in grad school under the mentorship of AI researcher Andrew Olney, who encouraged me to produce music starting with the modular synthesis software VCV Rack.

VCV Rack wrapped together my fascination with sounds, signals, and noise while tying it up with a stylish, musical bow. This launched the career of, W1ND0W. Soon I found myself transitioning to GarageBand, then Ableton, and soon after performing live shows as a solo act and with my band virtual_body, co-led by Brooke Lever (aka The Barbie Wyre aka drrtgrrl). We birthed glitter and glitches into Memphis while I honed in on learning musical theory and crafting together my brand.

Through virtual_body, I met the industrial popstar Suroor. We bonded over a shared love for community, music, and Deleuze. We have since sewed together a scene around the Memphis label Purgatory Pressings which has organized an annual compilation album, an annual music festival, regular trans-themed event nights, and a US coast-to-coast tour.

In my music career, I am currently working on a concept album and have recently released a mixtape follow-up to my first full release. My sound fuses electronic, pop, experimental, and ambient elements to create a distorted fluorescent explosion of sound.

I also work as an instructor with the CodeCrew’s Code School, a non-profit programming bootcamp for adults. This part of my career allows me to use my technical skills to broaden Memphis’ tech landscape. So far I’ve taught a class on technology and public health, which showed how to use data science, front-, and back-end development to create health dashboards for Shelby County. I am currently developing an artificial intelligence curriculum for the school, which is really exciting and fun too.

I find a lot of joy in blending my technical and artistic skills into exciting and teachable experiences. I see onlookers walk away with a sense of wonder and surprise in both facets of my career. They have been shocked at the blend of my sound and the capabilities I transfer. I think its beautiful that I get to build community around people by embracing my truest self.

As far as new events go, I just dropped a mixtape, Harley Tapes 23-24. Purgatory Presseings is putting together another compilation album to drop in December, this time just for Memphis artists. You can also catch me live at the GonerFest Afterparty with Sex Tape Records on Sept 26th, at the Memphis Trans-Night on November 1st, and with Little Lizard on November 15th – all at the Lamplighter Lounge.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Community-building, life-long learning, and adaptability.

My advice is to just get involved with what you can get your hands on and whatever makes you feel comfortable, whether that be online or off. You learn the most through other people, good and bad. No way of getting around it. The faster you become comfortable with other people the faster you can succeed. Do this and experiment with your identity, seriously find what makes you the most comfortable, safe, and the youest you. Hold onto it with every fiber of your being and let it adapt as you adapt to the world.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

Philip K. Dick’s VALIS created a lightning desire in me to make art, no matter what it looked like. Writing, drawing, making music – everything. It allowed me to see that there was This Thing that everyone has poking at them, driving them to make art. Some ignore it and some channel it. Some call it God, some call it spirit or a force. Whatever This Thing is, it’s a vehicle for production and connection. The book inspired me to love and live deeper because This Thing only exists here, in the now, with those you surround yourself with. It’s always a fleeting moment, sometimes driving you crazy as you try to point at it. What’s funny is that so many artists tap into it, PKD did, and it drove him to insanity. I think it’s something esoteric, something not to be messed with, something to be channeled and then dropped.

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Image Credits

Renata Rains, Jeremy Goodson, Tori Sommerhof, Jeremi Thordarson, Maggie Trisler

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