Jenelle Norris

Artist’s Statement
Pretty From the Back: Excerpts and Camera Tests

Want: transitive verb 1: to fail to possess especially in customary or required amount : LACK 2 ... b : to have an inclination to: LIKE <say what you want, he is efficient> 3: to have need of : REQUIRE*

We all want. It's a normal aspect of human behavior: parents are to want better for their children compared to what they had, one is to want sex in order to procreate the species, one is even to want that new car because its presentation appeals to a basic want of man -- the idea of a higher social status.

Desire, on the other hand, is indeed a different story.

Desire: transitive verb 1 : to long or hope for : exhibit or feel desire for <desire success> 2 a : to express a wish for: REQUEST <they desire an immediate answer>*

Desire is an interesting persuasion of man onto himself. We desire what we value but these objects (tangible or intangible) have no inherent value -- none that society is not guilty of placing upon them. The assigned value of a desired object varies from society to society because of environmental influences such as: (1) what objects the current generations of the society were and are currently taught to value and (2) how have the decided values of those objects filtered through individual interpretations (e.g., not everyone wants Prada, but many would love to have it and some might commit crimes for it.)

The majority of these societal and individual desires seem to meet at the idea of possessing a valued object, but what happens when the object is a part of another human being?

Objectification is common in our culture. We remove the mental and emotional aspects of a person in order to remove the consideration of human rational in our judgments. This leads to an often necessary thing: objectivity. To examine what is or was instead of what it could be or could have been. What about objectifying a person to determine the person's value? What about ignoring a person's mental and emotional self in order to judge them according to our desire?

In Icelandic, it is grammatically incorrect to say "nosa min (my nose)" because no one and no thing can possess part of a whole and the nose is considered one part of the body. One must instead say "þessi nosa á mer (this nose on me)". If you take this "grammatical correctness" of the Icelandic language and consider it in the context of life -- is it not still correct? No one can possess another's nose because it is a fixed part of ones body and ones body belongs to oneself, e.g., a nose is not an object separate from all else; it is one part of a greater whole.

Whether or not it is the right thing to do, we do it. We objectify one another in order to judge one another according to our desires. We do this because our society deems it not only acceptable but also, somehow, correct. I invite you to take a look at these parts; consider whether or not you need the whole. Are these parts enough for you to desire or reject the whole? Perhaps you need more of the whole before you can decide, or are you are one of the few who values the whole over its parts?

*Merriam-Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary, Electronic Version.

Image/Process info

I began this working with Polaroid 600 films (one kind of Instant Integral film) over ten years ago here in Saint Paul and I have recently begun working with Image film in this same manner. I had, however, never shown them publicly before this year, these few at Evoke being the Saint Paul debut.

To achieve these types of images the film must, basically, be destroyed. The various methods employed (warming, cooling, wetting, rapid drying, etc.) decide things such as tonal range and transparency; the textures and image that are left after are an issue of chance. You can manipulate only enough to steer the image in a general direction, but the end result is always a surprise. Each image shown is an original. There will never be another one exactly like it as these can not be duplicated with the same results.

Background

I was born and raised in Saint Paul and have recently returned after about two years abroad in the southern countryside of Poland. There, I collaborated with other artists as well as made a few appearances as a guest lecturer at Małopolski Uniwersytet Ludowy, a traditional arts university in Wzdów.

2006 Exhibitions:

Evoke Gallery, Saint Paul, MN

Snakemokey, New York, NY