Along East Montgomery Avenue in Fishtown, there is a mural with bright yellow gramophones and blue ears with big hoops dancing above a teal zebra background.
The mural, “Listening to Hear,” is part of the “Small Worlds” project for Mural Arts Philly. The piece was completed in 2024 by Jaq “Jingle” Masters, a Black, nonbinary multidisciplinary artist and Kensington native. It was the first mural on which Masters served as the lead artist. They’ve worked with Mural Arts since 2017 as an artistic assistant, helping other artists on murals across the city. And the staff asked Masters to complete their own.
Considering Masters, 38, is a skillful muralist and tattoo artist, it’s shocking that they were not always an artist. Some people know they’re an artist before they can even walk. Others, like Masters, don’t come to that realization until much later.
However, in some ways, their art journey does begin at the start of new life.
Over a decade ago, Masters was a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon with a degree in computer science working for a web hosting company. The most artsy things Masters participated in at this point was creating upcycled clothing pieces and posing as a figure model for other artistic-minded friends. Beyond that, Masters never really put ink to paper.
Around this time, they endured a nervous breakdown and were hospitalized. While receiving treatment and recovering in the inpatient program, Masters began painting.
“When I was hospitalized, there was an art therapist who came in and spoke to us about what it means to see yourself in the future,” Masters says. “I would sketch portraits of myself over time, and it was supposed to stamp [myself] in the future.
“A lot of my artistic endeavors were centered around making sure I was here.”
Sketching led to painting, and it led Masters to not only envision a fruitful future for themselves, but also hone their art skills.
After Masters was released, they began participating as an artist at the figure drawing sessions they modeled at, learning techniques firsthand from other friends and artists. Portraiture is one of their specialties, and they enjoy creating self-portraits and portraits of people who are powerful forces in their life.
“I always said if I ever did [my own] mural, it would definitely be dedicated to the Black femmes in my life, because that’s how my art process really started,” they said.
Masters says they were showing symptoms of psychosis before they were hospitalized, and a few friends of theirs, who were Black, queer, trans-femme women, would come over and nurture Masters. The women would help Masters bathe, bring over food, and supply forms of grounding entertainment, like a sketch pad and pens. They’d play music for Masters, and make playlists of songs for specific days, weeks, or moments.
The mural pays homage to these Black femmes through the items and ways they exist in their own lives. Its official description notes the mural offers “visually surrealistic illustrations of an eclectic garden of ears embodying butterflies and gramophones representing bloomed morning glories. The satin bonnets in the distance and zebra-like background patterns denote hair braiding customs and thoughtfully expresses the sweetness of femmehood through the lenses of black queer culture.”
Through the love and support of these women, Masters received help and began their artistic journey, where their artwork, no matter the medium, depicts themes of uplifting Black, queer individuals and inspiring hope to overcome hardship. (Masters also became a self-taught tattoo artist during this time, and they ran the tattoo collective Blood N Stone. Masters guest tattoos at different studios in the city, and many of the same themes are found in their tattoo work).
An additional element that may not stand out at first glance is to the right of the mural: A small QR code. When scanned, it leads to a playlist, composed of inspirational songs these influential women chose when Masters asked them to “name a song that makes you feel heard,” calling back to the mural’s name, “Listening to Hear.”
Songs like Alice Smith’s cover of “I Put A Spell On You,” “Special” by Janet Jackson, and “Time Is Precious” by SAULT are on the playlist.
“‘Time Is Precious’ is like a direct recollection of why I made the mural with this theme in the first place,” Masters said. “The [seven-minute] song is actually mostly instrumental, and it is so theatrical and tumultuous until you get towards the end of it. And then there’s a soft, gentle, almost never-ending chant: ‘Don’t waste time ‘cause time is precious; it’s your only time you’ve got here.’”
Masters describes the song as a kind of storytelling that reminds listeners that there is a calm in life, but it may not be reached until after experiencing something difficult. However, once you reach that calm, do all you can to treasure it.
That theme is a driving force in their Fishtown mural, and really, how they live their entire life.
