Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Swank.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I would say that I started seriously pursuing art when I changed my career after undergrad and decided to get my MFA. I attended Clemson University and studied Photography during my time there. I worked with film photography primarily but also expanded my practice to include sculpture and video work as well. I’m still pursuing all of these media, and honestly just base my practice on what medium serves my idea most effectively.
During graduate school, I also founded an art collective with my cohort called Zero Space Collective. We work to advocate and support underrepresented artists through exhibitions, social media takeovers, and sharing any platform that we have access to. We’re still growing, and it’s been exciting to see the progress we have made so far.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t know that anything ever truly has a smooth road – and my journey hasn’t been any different. My biggest struggle was changing my career path so quickly after graduating from college. It was emotionally difficult to reconcile the time I had spent pursuing the wrong career path, as well as mentally difficult to figure out how to get to where I wanted to be. I put endless hours into making work, applying for opportunities, and “playing catch up” because I felt like I was behind in some way. It taught me discipline and I’m grateful for where that drive got me, but I wish I had realized sooner that I didn’t have to make up for any sort of lost time. Every step I took got me to the place I’m in today, and without the challenges, I wouldn’t be the same artist or person I am now.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I primarily work in photography and sculpture, and recently I have been leaning into sculpture a good bit more. However, I think that the overlap that I can create between the two media is especially interesting. My work centers around the relationships humans have with technology. I’m really interested in the dichotomous nature of that relationship and how it is based in mimicry and replication. The use of photography as my primary medium lends itself to these foundational ideas of replication. Inherently, images are flattened reproductions of the subjects they capture. When I make sculptures and then document them through photographs, I create two versions of a physical thing. This is similar to how we as humans exist physically and in an online space.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
I’ve learned that you don’t need physical space to create a community or share your ideas. My fellow Zero Space members have taught me that, and we continue to use that lesson in the development of our collective.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jessicaswank.art
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicawswank/
- Other: www.zerospacecollective.com
