Jen Monroe

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Artists Statement

deepening /dēp-niŋ/ intransitive verb to become deeper or more profound

Catherine’s 24-week course, The Deepening, is a magically powerful group mentoring project. As a participant, I used my cameras to pay attention to people, places, feelings, questions, and dreams. (And to the light, always.) Each week, we met to get grounded and honest, share and talk about our work, and reflect on what we want from our futures. Our inner critics were not welcome here. I haven’t felt so hopeful and positive about what’s next since I was a child.

I looked forward to the next meeting as soon as the current one was ending, and, at the same time, I worried that my work lacked a cohesive thread. While searching for a subject to ‘go deeper’ on, I found myself drifting between digital and 35mm, color and black and white, street scenes and self-portraits. I was looking for a theme, but all I had were instincts.

I made these images with my iPhone, a restored Polaroid SX-70, my son’s 35mm Canonet19, and my paternal grandfather’s 35mm Canon AV-1. Most of my film is lab processed, though I developed some rolls in a homemade brew and spent an entire evening with my son scanning the negatives, dust and all.

At the close of the class, I began naming the images. ::glow, turn, anchor, fade:: I realized the work wasn't about a single topic, but about a series of actions. It was an exercise in becoming comfortable when things aren't clear. Whether capturing a stranger in color or myself in black and white, these photographs are an exercise in trust. They are the artifacts of a practice rooted in intuition rather than set intention.

If a story emerges for the viewer, it is theirs to keep. For me, the work is simply about standing in the unclear and finding something worth keeping. I’ve learned that I don’t have to fit into the lines all the time, and that a collection of images that only share the sameness of making my heart beat a little faster isn’t wrong at all.

Bio
Jenifer Monroe is a photographer and ceramicist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work is spare, simple, slow, and personal. She makes digital and analog images from her everyday life and travels, and is currently experimenting with developing black and white 35mm negatives in homemade and nontoxic brews. 

Instagram:  @jenmonroe