Meet Jadd Tank | Creative Producer & Movement-based Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jadd Tank and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jadd, is there something you believe many others might not?
One piece of conventional advice I disagree with is: ‘Be yourself.’ It assumes the self is a fixed, knowable thing — as if we have total access to who we are at all times. But I’ve found that the self is porous, contextual, and constantly evolving. Identities shift depending on space, power dynamics, memory, trauma, even desire. Rather than ‘being myself,’ I’m more interested in becoming, in experimenting, in shapeshifting. I think we need more room for multiplicity — for contradiction, performance, and transformation — especially in a world that often demands we be legible or palatable. I’d replace ‘Be yourself’ with something like ‘Follow your frictions’ or *‘Let your dissonance lead you.’”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Okay — here’s the dream day, Houston style.

We’d start with breakfast at We’re Dough — because nothing says good morning like fresh mana’eesh and Arabic coffee. After that, obviously, we’d take a nap. It’s Houston. It’s hot. We rest.

Midday, we’d head to the Menil Collection for a quiet, grounding wander. Nothing screams Houston like a privately owned free-to-the-public gallery (lol). After that, coffee at Agnes — tucked away, chill, good people-watching and even better vibes.

Then… another nap. I believe in intermissions.

Later in the afternoon, we’d stop by JRN Nursery 2 — my favorite low-key plant spot. It’s full of green life and charm, and always feels like a soft exhale. After another small nap (yes, again), we’d rally for a night out.

The evening ends at ArtClub at the Post — music, art, queerness, good trouble, and maybe a little dancing. It’s the kind of party where everyone’s experimenting — with fashion, movement, connection. It’s where the day spills over into magic.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout? Absolutely.

I want to dedicate my shoutout to those who insist on making space for the unspeakable, the untranslatable, the unmarketable.

To my ancestors — Arab, queer, diasporic — whose stories were fragmented, erased, or distorted, and yet still hum under my skin like a drumbeat.
To the artists who make with nothing, who create beauty inside constraint, who refuse the performance of respectability.
To my chosen family — the lovers, co-conspirators, and friends who remind me that survival is a shared project.
To the philosophers and poets who cracked my mind open — especially Jean Baudrillard, who taught me that reality is already a simulation, and that art can be a weapon or a mirror.
To my Maternal and Paternal Lineages, and all the trauma passed down that has molded me like a ceramicist to their clay.
To the dance floors, the late-night kitchens, the experimental studios, the corners of the internet where wildness is still allowed.
To the mentors who didn’t try to fix me, but just listened.

Okay but some real names: Jean Baudrillard, Slavoj Zizek, Missy Elliott, Hannah Arrendt, Marquis De Sade, Mia Khalifa.

Website: www.jaddtank.com

Instagram: JaddlyT