B. 1989, Hunter College Mfa Graduate, Currently Working & Living in NYC
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Jessica Ellis is a performative research based artist that interrupts, dissects, and examines mechanisms of power through humor, empathy and Camp. She critically implements foundations of western tropes as well as their archetypal exteriors, as points of entry to explore their origins and political objectives. While the cornerstone of her practice lies in research, it’s important to Ellis that the form is open to evolution through the participation of collaborative subjects and the shifting environments, in which the work is produced. Rather than working within a preconceived form, she prefers the content to dictate its needs.
Ellis works within the parameters of the American mythos and the consequences of the American crafted narrative, specifically, within social political relationships regarding the dynamics of control and hierarchical state manipulation within the working class. Her work strives to question the protagonists of our daily visual consumption and to investigate how they function within our social political landscape. Ellis considers the misidentification of a working class oppressor to be a primary byproduct of the crafted mythos and hopes the work can be an opportunity to process and identify these setbacks within our cultural framework. Ellis’ work often strives to produce layers of viewership that can include varied participation through combinations of empathic satire, derived nostalgia from the american canon and mimicry of forms of popular consumption.
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Email- jessellisstudio@gmail.com
Instagram-@Jessellisstudio