Jennifer B. Thoreson
Testament

Jennifer B. Thoreson - Testament

Contemporary artist Jennifer B. Thoreson’s Testament series make feeling and emotion visible. Thoreson’s work offers reflection and solace in times we feel interpersonal strain. Her work has always been anchored to the personal, yet feel like moments we’ve all had- lately. Thoreson writes of this work:

I am drawn to moments where people are on an edge, barely laced together, befriending disaster, remembering something, or exposing something. Testament explores themes of both resilience and dependency; it illustrates the heavy burdens we perpetually carry, and the relentless yearning for release.

Visually surreal, Jennifer B. Thoreson’s photographs have always had an uncanny believability attributed to our own compassion. We are suspended in her emotional and symbolic scenes that explore the intimacies of relationships. Thoreson’s photographs depict such feelings as frustration, anger, confusion, fear-yet compassion, and ultimately, love, prevail. There is a heaviness to these moments, but there is also a release. Baggage carried is slipping away; these are the moments before letting-go and coming back. The space when the weight of it all hung in the room.

I am curious about how relationships survive, why they dissolve, how people love one another, and how such love is expressed. In this work, I am investigating heavy burdens and how we carry them. I am interested in the spiritual labor of bearing weight, submission, futileness, and persistence.

Jennifer B. Thoreson makes her photographs from detailed installations she creates. Thoreson had a religious upbringing. Faith remains important in her life and seeds thematically through all her work. To execute Testament, Thoreson rented an empty house for one year. Space and furnishings being based on similarities to her 1980’s childhood home, Thoreson also fabricated the large-scale sculptural objects for each image. Materials such as wool, linen, clay, and human hair were used and borrow symbolic language from the Bible. Impetus for this work hinges on a passage from Matthew (11:28) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Testament probes into obscure, sensitive areas, exploring both earnest religious conviction, and the failure of faith.

Jennifer B. Thoreson - Testament

Inseparable, 2010
Family Portrait, 2010
Hair Cloak, 2010

Testament by Jennifer B. Thoreson | Price Structure:
17 x 21 in. pigment print | Edition of 10 | $1,150