Fruit of Another
Hair Drape, 2015-2021 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
23 x 18 inches
Fruit of Another is a new solo exhibition by Jenna Westra, produced in collaboration with Tu es mon Tresor and accompanied by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret design objects. The exhibition includes 18 works shot between 2015 - 2022 and takes place in a house designed by Japanese architect Junzō Yoshimura and completed in 1977. The house was originally commissioned by a female business owner, rarely seen in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century.
Jenna presents work shot previously alongside recent works with a new perspective, emphasizing themes and attractions that have persisted over time. Exposing a twist on an approach to thinking about femininity when the subject emerges holistically, she brings forth both inner and outer appearances.
Through a deep connection with her subjects and the eagerness to expose the ‘hidden’ qualities before the photographer, femininity attains a redefined shape. These images break away from the objectification of the body and bring into focus composition and atmosphere. As Jenna explains the exhibition, “I also thought about different themes that emerge in my work [...] a tendency I have to make doubles or near copies of things, pairs, and encounters of similar but different motifs. There are also doubles that exist within the same frame, two people, reflections, and mirrorings.”
Exhibition
Exhibition Solo, 1977-, Atami, JP May 21 — August 28 | Part of Tu es mon Tresor
Maya Bending, 2018 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
28.5 x 20 inches
‘It’s my first time making an exhibition in a non-gallery space where there are all these different elements to consider in proximity to the installation. We thought about the architectural design, which is quite angular with unexpected heights and volumes, but we also took into account the light and how it moves through the house over the course of the day.’
Fruit of Another
Hi Jenna, how are things going? Congratulations on your new solo exhibition in Japan! How is this experience for you to exhibit your work at 1977-, the house designed by Junzō Yoshimura, accompanied by interior design and furniture pieces?
It’s a huge honor to show my work in the house designed by Junzō Yoshimura, a Japanese modernist architect, and disciple of Antonin Raymond. It’s my first time making an exhibition in a non-gallery space where there are all these different elements to consider in proximity to the installation. We thought about the architectural design, which is quite angular with unexpected heights and volumes, but we also took into account the light and how it moves through the house over the course of the day. And then, of course, keeping in mind the other design pieces, which are situated throughout — objects and furniture by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret — to create a conversation between my pictures and these major design works. I had a lot of help from my collaborators at Tu es mon Tresor, the brand that commissioned and co-conceived the project.
The house also has quite an interesting history. It was commissioned by a female business owner, rarely seen in Japan at the beginning of the 20th century. Her vintage hair dryer chair is still in situ there. I think about and respect what a challenge it was for her to be a woman pursuing her dreams during this time in Japan and feel her strengthful presence in the house.
Two Faces, 2022 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
14 x 11.25 inches
‘This is the largest grouping of my photographs to be exhibited together to date, 18 works in total, so I wanted to take the opportunity to make a mini-retrospective of sorts.’
Duo with Halved Melon, Pink Paper, 2018 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
28 x 21 inches
The Connecting Theme
Femininity, the power in softness, and the tension in closeness between the subjects and the subjects and photographer are powerful themes displayed in this exhibition. What was the initial connecting element that became a drive to combine the images you chose to exhibit from your recent projects and previous work?
This is the largest grouping of my photographs to be exhibited together to date, 18 works in total, so I wanted to take the opportunity to make a mini-retrospective of sorts. This was the reason I chose to include images I shot a while back in 2015 up through new works from this year. It was a nice moment to look back through my negative archive to see what I might have missed or never got around to printing and bringing into the world.
I also thought about different themes that emerge in my work — those you mention but also a tendency I have to make doubles or near copies of things, pairs, and encounters of similar but different motifs. There are also doubles that exist within the same frame, two people, reflections, and mirrorings. This is a more recent realization and something I was able to notice by looking back a bit. I think of this attraction as akin to an inner and outer sense of self: the psychic part we hold private and the other that is presented outwardly.
Braid, Demi Plie, 2021 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
36.5 x 24 inches
Legs and Chair (Armature), 2019 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
28.5 x 33.5 inches
‘I want to redirect the reading of images of nude women away from something to be consumed or diminishing to the subject to a place that feels more respectful.’
Figure, Glass, Silk, 2020 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
14 x 11.5 inches
Kayla with Found Slide Projections 1-3, 2022 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
34 x 21.5 inches each
The Gaze
Some of the images you present are of nude models, while the gaze evades the sexualization of women, instead emphasizing femininity, tenderness, and sensuality. Unfortunately, these images cannot be shown on social media channels today in their original form. What does the feminine gaze in photography hold for you? In which way do you think it allows changing the narrative about the female body today?
To me, the idea of the gaze represents power dynamics, a viewer or author who has an agenda to consume or control, so I don’t really identify with the term ‘female gaze,’ although I understand the appropriation and intended message. But I do think representations of women by women encite a different reading than other gendered artistic relationships. For myself, I want to redirect the reading of images of nude women away from something to be consumed or diminishing to the subject to a place that feels more respectful. The models I work with have a lot of freedom to be expressive and playful. There’s a sense of collaboration and play in my studio settings. The camera just captures these moments and translates them quite literally, and these dynamics come through in the prints.
Eugenie Shinkle wrote a beautiful text on the occasion of the exhibition, she gets at the heart of these ideas better than I can with this excerpt, and maybe this has something to do with the mirroring I spoke about earlier:
“The work pays homage to the female muses of early photographers and painters – the latter mostly men, for whom femininity was a mysterious otherworld, and whose work could only show the outward signs of their subject’s identity. In Westra’s images, this inner world is lived and shared”.
Dancers, 2021 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
14 x 11.25 inches
Maja with Mirror and Fur, 2017 Courtesy of Lubov and Schwarz Contemporary
34 x 21.5 inches each
‘It’s a lot easier to create a story or environment when working with pictures I’ve made in the same year or two because of how my visual sensibilities evolve over time.’
The process
Each new project leads to discoveries about yourself, your strengths and passion, or the surrounding world. What is your main discovery coming from the work on this solo exhibition, or which questions did you raise while working on the image selection?
There was a lot of mixing and matching over the course of planning the installation. It was a bit of a challenging puzzle. I think that sense came out of trying to understand relationships and themes between new and older work. It’s a lot easier to create a story or environment when working with pictures I’ve made in the same year or two because of how my visual sensibilities evolve over time. Things I want to see and photograph are pretty consistent in shorter time frames. I learned to trust that there was a thread to be found — it was just a matter of making the right selection — and letting things come into focus.
A useful discovery was working with a slide projector in the Kayla triptyque. We shot those during the winter at night, so the only light was coming from the projector. I had found the slides during my time as a graduate student and held onto them for years, not knowing how or if they would come into the work. They are all images of plants and trees, maybe from an arborist society, and seem to be from the late 1970s or early 1980s, around the time the Yoshimura house was built. It interests me how the light seems to form and wrap around the body and creates stark shadows of the figure, another kind of double.
