Natural Death of Nature
Amber light blooms from the stem and cradles life, a virtuous delicate creature. The butterfly rests until ready to spread life through pollination. The precious stones, liquid gold, and antique amber glass are shed when life begins.
About the Artist, Jennifer Jenkins
J. Jenkins sees the world through a camera lens and uses the darkroom as a therapy session. Whether behind her enlarger in the darkroom or her computer screen in the studio, using mediums such as traditional 35mm film or new-age digital media, all becomes quiet and personal, and life becomes focused. Her prints reflect her mood, bold with contrast, washed out, timid, alive with color, or lost in thought through black and white. She selects subjects supplied by the pristine natural environment and those devastated by humanity, from grandeur landscapes to the overlooked micro details.
J. Jenkins's photographs are a snapshot of her reality in time, placing what she sees and feels in a harmonious balance of aesthetics for the viewer to experience, such as her *Texas Night Sky works*. Each piece captures the trauma and pain caused by humanity in the environment or a remembrance of the beauty before it escapes us, like photography by Ansel Adams or a reflection of her physical and mental torment like Frida Kahlo's self-portraits. On one side is the overlooked story of a subject such as the night stars, and on the other side of the balance, a photograph of her vision, *Star Zoom*. It is a photo saturated in purples and reds like a fresh bruise as streaks of color zoom at a center point like a trigger on a raw nerve, her pain, her truth. Sometimes her truth is dark and full of horror while still beautiful, like works by photographer Joel Peter Witkin. Other times her reality is brightly trimmed with joy and overwhelming beauty that makes it seem unnatural, like in her assemblage micro works of the *Natural Death of Nature*. They capture the beauty in simple things found in nature, even after life has been extinguished.
Interview with the Artist
What impacts do you think art can have on society?
Art can be a catalyst for change by engaging the audience in concepts that are prevalent in our society by invoking questions. Questions about current or past events that have yet to solidify themselves. Questions that cause self-reflection about their participation or lack of support. Not every viewer will walk away from a work of art as a spokesperson, but conversation among their peers spreads awareness. Awareness is the first step for change, and hopefully, enough art will be seen so that our world can begin to heal among the people and nature and our relationships with both.
What is the main message you would like others to take from your pieces?
There is beauty in death and the cycle of life. Life is a virtuous delicate creature like the butterfly. When people are ready to live, they shed what is deemed valued by society, and their life begins. Everything is essential for our world to exist. Even a tiny, simple butterfly has a vital job regarded as necessary by nature's natural life cycle. It is a bringer of life to the flowers in the spring and fruit for substance in the summer. Its life cycle is full of change; it is resilient, and nature gives it tools to adapt. It is fragile, and its life is short, but it is still essential to the ecosystem for its job of pollination. Hopefully, individuals who view this piece walk away and tell themselves, "I am a butterfly," that they are resilient, will adapt, and are essential; they need to shed the weight of unnecessary societal influences and begin life down a new path.
How has your artistic style changed over the years? Do you follow current trends or follow different themes?
Beginning photography in the 90s, the go-to medium for students was 35 mm film. It wasn't until 2000, when digital started to emerge, that embracing both mediums was possible. It took until 2022 to break away from what styles were streamlined and embrace a different view of the self as it co-exists in the changing world by selecting themes that fit a personal message as well as a societal interest—photographing an entire series to engage the audience in a narrative fully and delivering concepts that invoke self-reflection within viewers to provoke questions of mental and physical health, trauma, and humanities effects on the environment—since attending the University of the Incarnate Word, using conventional mediums and new-age technology for documentary, assemblage, and tableau have also branched into creating fictional and surreal narratives by using an artistic application and photographic manipulation.
What does art mean to you?
Art is more than a form of artistic expression; it is communication between community members. Art allows ideas and emotions to be aesthetically articulated and open for interpretation. Suppose a viewer walks away provoked by an artwork. In that case, the viewer may walk away with a greater understanding of the world, even if it questions the artist's intentions. It means their mind has been open to difference, positive or negative, inciting a drive in the individual for change; change begins with the self and, like a stone in a pond, ripples outward until the momentum has touched everything in the ecosystem.