jessica bruah
untitled 1 from “stories”
jessica bruah
born: Rockford, Illinois
Currently resides in Chicago, Illinois
website: www.jessicabruah.com
work statement
My body of work titled “Stories” began when I decided to merge my love for fiction with my interest in photography. I began to see each image as its own visual narrative. Because the scenarios depicted are vague and bizarre, the viewers have to interpret each story for themselves. Each photograph contains an anonymous character,
seemingly unaware of the lens, whose face is never shown. Although I am playing the dual role of photographer and subject, these self-portraits do not concern the notion of self but rather the idea of constructing reality. Every image is carefully assembled, aided by costumes, props, studio lighting, and posing. All these elements, along with the manipulation of a view camera, bring a surrealistic and often amusing quality to the images. In addition to fiction, I draw inspiration from film and any work that discusses gender, identity, and/or domesticity. Some of my current influences include Tina Barney, David Hilliard, Anna Gaskell, Gregory Crewdson and Cindy Sherman. The pictures in this series are scanned from 4×5 in. negatives, cleaned up in Photoshop (without manipulating the images), and printed to 16×20 in. or 20×25 in. on archival digital paper.
bio
Jessica Bruah was born in Rockford, Illinois, in 1981 and grew up in the Chicago suburbs. She took a junior college photography course when she was 15 and became enamored with the darkroom. The first photograph she ever printed is coincidentally similar to her current work, albeit in black and white. The image is of a girl, face shielded from view, bending down to pick up pine needles from the floor. The classes led her to majoring in photography at Columbia College in Chicago where she quickly fell in love with color photography. She graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts in 2004.
Since then she has been exhibiting around Chicago and on the Internet. Last November, she became a part of the Photo-eye’s Photographer’s Showcase Gallery (www.photo-eye.com). Jessica is currently the featured artist on www.fstopmagazine.com.
