Jess Meyer

artist statement

My art exists as my diary, a method for me to catalog to gradually understand my experiences with the world around me. As a transgender man, I find chaos and peril externally and internally, with little space for refuge. It is difficult to exist in this world. My practice allows me to navigate my life by my own terms - I can take, and relinquish, control as I see fit. 

An act of control - I use my camera to capture the world around me, finding sanctuary in moments of light thought to be otherwise insignificant, I find myself in the growth, death, and regrowth of the natural world as the seasons pass, I save moments of joy with and of those around me to cherish these memories when times become rough. This process extends beyond the lens, as the materiality of my practice is integral. My hand, human intervention, is present in my body, and thus I want it to be present in my art. Whether this is through the utilization of intimacy or by engaging with the photographic print through means of destruction, addition, experimentation, and installation, I want to touch my work directly and thus give it life. 

A relinquishing of control - when I rip my photographs, when I nail them, when I wash them with chemicals or move them along a scanner, I subject myself to whatever outcome there shall be. There are factors I can no longer control once my work exits the realm of the digital and enters into this physical space, much like how I cannot control the way I am received by those around me. There is fear and joy all bundled into one, a catharsis reached through these actions, and I only hope to reach those who view my work in a way that encourages them to take on their own struggles and triumphs and to know they are not alone. 

The presentation of my work and how it takes up space is a fact that cannot be overlooked. There is openness to chance when I install a work, as I enter the space with the plan to respond to the environment and atmosphere present. My art seeks to coexist within the physical in a way that takes up space unapologetically, authentically, while declaring that it belongs. 

That I belong.