Jena Love, "Kids already live here"
Artist Statement
In The Absurdity of Pregnancy, Jena Love questions the implicit societal, materialist, and gender norms that broadly shape the lives of women within an American consumerist context. Employing the languages of conceptual, documentary, and typological photography, Love docu-stages scenes within her own home to craft a personal narrative of maternity and parenthood that holds widespread implications for families. Her work peels back the romanticism that surrounds pregnancy and motherhood to reveal the abject – the messiness and physicality of human life, often considered private and unmentionable.
Artist Bio
Jena Love is an artist and teacher who lives and works in Sullivan County, NY. Her background is in drawing and painting, and she is currently focused on expanding her body of conceptual photography work. In her art, Love explores the complexities, ironies, challenges, humor, and beauty of motherhood. A mother of three, Love often captures herself and her family as the primary models for her images, set within the context of domestic spaces. She uses elements of documentary and typological photography, along with aspects of surrealism and farce to craft images that critically engage with the quotidian nature of family life, finding humor in the mundane. Though approached through the lens of a personal narrative, Love’s art speaks more broadly to the universal and shared experiences of mothers, parents, and children, particularly as situated within an American consumerist culture.
Artist Statement
In The Absurdity of Pregnancy, Jena Love questions the implicit societal, materialist, and gender norms that broadly shape the lives of women within an American consumerist context. Employing the languages of conceptual, documentary, and typological photography, Love docu-stages scenes within her own home to craft a personal narrative of maternity and parenthood that holds widespread implications for families. Her work peels back the romanticism that surrounds pregnancy and motherhood to reveal the abject – the messiness and physicality of human life, often considered private and unmentionable.
Artist Bio
Jena Love is an artist and teacher who lives and works in Sullivan County, NY. Her background is in drawing and painting, and she is currently focused on expanding her body of conceptual photography work. In her art, Love explores the complexities, ironies, challenges, humor, and beauty of motherhood. A mother of three, Love often captures herself and her family as the primary models for her images, set within the context of domestic spaces. She uses elements of documentary and typological photography, along with aspects of surrealism and farce to craft images that critically engage with the quotidian nature of family life, finding humor in the mundane. Though approached through the lens of a personal narrative, Love’s art speaks more broadly to the universal and shared experiences of mothers, parents, and children, particularly as situated within an American consumerist culture.
Artist Statement
In The Absurdity of Pregnancy, Jena Love questions the implicit societal, materialist, and gender norms that broadly shape the lives of women within an American consumerist context. Employing the languages of conceptual, documentary, and typological photography, Love docu-stages scenes within her own home to craft a personal narrative of maternity and parenthood that holds widespread implications for families. Her work peels back the romanticism that surrounds pregnancy and motherhood to reveal the abject – the messiness and physicality of human life, often considered private and unmentionable.
Artist Bio
Jena Love is an artist and teacher who lives and works in Sullivan County, NY. Her background is in drawing and painting, and she is currently focused on expanding her body of conceptual photography work. In her art, Love explores the complexities, ironies, challenges, humor, and beauty of motherhood. A mother of three, Love often captures herself and her family as the primary models for her images, set within the context of domestic spaces. She uses elements of documentary and typological photography, along with aspects of surrealism and farce to craft images that critically engage with the quotidian nature of family life, finding humor in the mundane. Though approached through the lens of a personal narrative, Love’s art speaks more broadly to the universal and shared experiences of mothers, parents, and children, particularly as situated within an American consumerist culture.