ARTIST STATEMENT
It can be compelling to strive to understand something, to assert that we understand what that work is, and have that be what defines it, the artist, and, ultimately, what defines us. In reality, any singular work, any singular person, is more than the interpretations someone else may apply to them, their history, or their ethnographic background. What defines me is not what someone else has decided I appear to be, and there is no work we can consolidate in a sentence, an answer, a definition. For a work to mean something, there will never be one satisfying explanation for what it is and why it is meaningful.
It is my belief that art should never be clear. It should never be an easy conclusion. One should not be able to look at an image and say this artist, put this here, for this reason, and that is why it is good. Artists should not aspire to be people who create definitions, who exist in boxes. We should strive to defy our confines and create a constantly evolving reality for ourselves and the work we create.
The pieces I submitted here speak to the prompt through exploring my complex relationship with place, food, and memory; the ways time can influence our perception of events and our relationship to places; and how food can ground us to certain places and experiences, which for myself allows me to honestly explore and maneuver through my own fraught relationship with food and eating.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jasmine Elizabeth is an artist from Minot, ND. They have studied many subjects, and have a BA in History, a MA in Film Studies, and an MFA in Screenwriting. They have worked as a press list writer for Film Streams in Omaha, Nebraska and continue to write reviews for films. Currently, they are continuing to explore and hone their voice using various methods of expression, primarily sculpture, collage, photography, and painting.
© Jasmine Elizabeth