Jessie Eisner-Kleyle
medium: photography
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Contact information
Artist resides in: Madison, WI
Email Address: eisnerkleyle@wisc.edu
Web site: www.jessieeisnerkleyle.com
Artist statement
In 2000, my boyfriend and I decided to get married and we went shopping for rings. When I mentioned to the salesperson that I liked the "square one," she informed me that it was "princess cut" and then, in a misguided effort to make her sale, urged me to try it on declaring that it was "perfect for a princess like you!" I walked away offended and baffled; we decided to not buy diamonds and not to get married.
Years later and married to that boyfriend, I am making photographs that are directly inspired by the assumption that any woman can fit neatly into a little pink plastic package despite her plans, desires and personality.
I was lucky enough to be raised in a time when people still read stories to children. I loved fairy tales--the adventures, the monsters and the quests--and I continued to read fairy tales even as I became too old for them. Unencumbered by film versions of these characters and places, I was free to envision them however I chose. As corporate America became the authority on how our princesses looked, sounded and behaved, I was surprised to find these new versions predictable at best and degrading at worst. This degradation of the female image is what I explore, and our perpetuation of dichotomous gender roles as we pass these stories on to our sons and daughters.
Like the diamond lady, I think about how words can be twisted to our benefit or detriment. I keep in mind how a storybook phrase can be taken out of context, and how it might change when used as a description of a modern woman. The first part of my creative process is to re-read the stories I grew up with as well as new rewritings. I am exploring psychoanalytic essays of the new and old tales, and the world history that inspired them, and closely considering that as our world changes, so do the meanings of our stories. I long ago realized that I am more comfortable acting out each role than I am recruiting and directing models. In the words of Francesca Woodman, "I am always available and I know exactly what I want."
In these images I revisit my life, act out my fears, and reflect on what I see around me. I investigate the fact that no one woman fits any one female stereotype. The decisions I make about my work are directly linked to the world that I am currently living in. Books I am reading, stories I hear on the news, exchanges with strangers on the street--any of these things may become inspiration for my photographs when paired with the right phrase. The images are dark and closely shot. In an exploration of the bodily practices of memory work, I focus on body parts that coincide with the story I am investigating. Feet for a dancing princess, hands for a big bad wolf, an empty lap for a childless mother. I want to create images that make the viewer feel like they have interrupted a private moment, and I want this imagery to make the viewer as uncomfortable as I am with the roles that were dictated for me.
There are questions at the core of my work that I don't know if I will ever satisfactorily answer. Why are so many adult women still carrying around these princess ideas, and why are we passing them on to our daughters? How can we, as a modern society, still tell our daughters that someday their prince (and not their princess) will come? And finally, what, as we turn our daughters into princesses and lock them away, are we doing to our sons?
Biography
I am a Louisiana photographer working and living in the Midwest. I received my B.A. in Visual Art Photography from McNeese State University in 2003 and will receive my M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2008. My work can be seen in exhibitions across the country such as PhotoMidwest: The Seven State Exhibition, The 7th Annual Joyce Elaine Grant Photo Exhibit in Denton, Texas, and TPS15: The National Competition.
Upcoming publications include Circus World: Photographers Under The Big Top and Visceral Mappings: Transdiasporic Art Practices. My work deals with our current societal ideas of gender and domesticity and how our memories influence those norms and, in turn, are influenced by our fairy tale culture.