“In my project, I am questioning the implicit societal, materialist, and gender norms that broadly shape women’s lives within an American consumerist context.
My work peels back the romanticism surrounding pregnancy and motherhood to reveal the messiness of human life, often considered private and unmentionable. Implied within the series are my observations of how the expectations of pregnancy and motherhood – formed through exposure to social media, advertising campaigns, and the culture at large – do not prepare one for the realities and absurdities of pregnancy and motherhood. Throughout the project, I satirise and name these norms, presenting them as obstacles that occupy physical and mental space. The viewer is led to question their complicity and reinforcement within these systems and to consider how these absurdities have unconsciously taken up space in their own life.”
Jena Love is an artist and educator based in Sullivan County, NY. Though her background is in drawing and painting, she is expanding her body of conceptual photography work.
Love explores motherhood’s complexities, ironies, challenges, humour, and beauty. A mother of three, Love often captures herself and her family as the primary models for her images, set within domestic spaces. She uses documentary and typological photography, surrealism, and farce to craft images that critically engage with the quotidian nature of family life.
Though approached through the lens of a personal narrative, Love’s art speaks more broadly to the universal and shared experiences of mothers, parents, and children, particularly within American consumerist culture.
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