My name is Jeanette Margaret.

The work I create is characterized by reflective, dense, nostalgic introspection. Looking unto oneself, at oneself, within oneself. Exploring the spaces in which one’s emotional processes interact with their physical reactions.

I often use mirrors in my work because of their central relationship to the body. For example, one will see them frequently in pieces I’ve created pertaining to my father’s illness because he genuinely believed he was the same man until he saw his own crippled body in his reflection. Entropy, is an interactive installation incorporating video and sound components contained within a plinth, created to recreate overwhelming feelings of internal reflection but continuous displacement from oneself while synchronously being isolated from the the outside world. 

My body of work is the reconstruction of aftermath. It incorporates clean, dream-like visuals, the use of symbolism, and collaged elements to investigate the origin of material experience through a secondary source.

I explore the power rooted in both the erotic and the uncanny. The erotic is “a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings” (from Audre Lorde). The majority of my works are in some way unsettling. Whether it be visual imagery, audio, subject matter, physical experience, etc. I always try and push my viewer out of their own reality to land them somewhere in between another. In this I explore my sexuality, my pain, and my interactions with the world around me. In my most recent workDon’t Ask Me Why I Didn’t Leave – a window to nowhere, a lightbulb that doesn’t light, a mirror in which you cannot see yourself, a body without a heart, a hand trapped underground.

Using various media simultaneously as a tool for both detachment and reclamation, I aim to explore the temporality of the ephemeral body. Ephemerality is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. The ephemeral body encompasses the biological suit that will eventually decay, and its lack of stagnancy throughout the universe in the various planes of existence.

My early work largely focuses on the effect of illness on the body of my deceased father. More recently I have begun to explore the limitations and stagnancy of the female body, and separation and reclamation from the effect of bodies on one another. I explore these narratives by abstracting my personal experiences. I often center the narrative around something that has originated physically but has created a series of incorporeal effects. By creating ephemera drawn from my experiences, I am able to recreate a feeling or emotion as a tangible thing. 

My work often originates in a digital realm that has, in some way or another, become physical (and oftentimes, digital again). In this, I take the elusiveness of emotions and memories and make them material. My body of work exists both about, and as, the human condition, while simultaneously exploring the various dimensions that derive from it. I aim to create a sense of removal from my own emotions by using the memory of a computer to parallel how my memories exist. When we reach back into our subconscious we recreate a feeling or an event as if we are currently experiencing it. My work encompasses the essentials of human existence - emotion, conflict, mortality, and how the ephemeral body navigates through it.

I am experienced in visual communication, branding, typography, concept development, drawing, painting. intermediate coding, and collaboration, among many other disciplines. As a dedicated and open-minded team member, I would be a strong addition to any collaborative environment.

Since my dad has passed, the sunflower has grown to become a symbol for his lasting impact. Not only does it represent his brightness in my life, but it stands for our togetherness in his loss. Losing my father so early has shaped who I am, what I create, and why I create. The sunflower serves as a reminder of both his presence and lack there of.