Jaina Cipriano
We are thrilled to feature the works of Jaina Cipriano. Jaina is a MA based artist, photographer, carpenter, filmmaker and set designer . She founded Finding Bright Studios in Lowell MA which focuses on set design and implementation for immersive film and video projects. Her works have been shown at the Griffin Museum of Photography, the Photographic Resource Center/Boston, Photo Place Gallery VT, Medium San Diego among others. A self-taught practitioner Jaina’s remarkable imagery explores in-depth personal and emotional landscapes.
I first became acquainted with Jaina’s works a few years ago and was immediately drawn to the intensely personal nature of her practice. The dynamic, visually striking, nearly assaultive composition of the works are jarring and thoughtful reflections on isolation, self-awareness and personal triumph. In her self-portraits often, she adopts an almost theatrical expressiveness to draw the viewer in and allow us to connect to her situational experiences. Theatrical, cinematic. Jaina’s work can be at times uncomfortable, humorous. Repulsive and beautiful. Jaina’s work delivers complex imagery that can serve as a reminder to explore our own identity with a fresh perspective.
-Steven Duede
When I am doing a self portrait I follow my instincts, often ending up messy and exhausted. But that is where the transformation happens - I feel different than I did when I started. It does not end there, the image must be shared. The audience is important - once I am witnessed, the transformation is solidified.
WITHOUT A MIRROR, HOW CAN WE KNOW OURSELVES?
These photographs are of designed worlds, built from the ground up, with my own hands. Being inside of these sets is an evolving playground. The concept of how space affects internal life is central to my process. Fabricated spaces or events have a theatricality that thrills me. There is no greater truth than when a fabricated image is more real than reality - as if we're looking through someone, into their own emotional landscape. This work connects us, reminds us we are never alone in the intensity of our emotions.
Creating these worlds is a way of changing my internal narrative. When things are not going the way I want them to, I can use photography as a little bit of psychomagic. It is a safe space for me to open up, be present and trust the process. It is practicing a life philosophy on a macro level, almost, a trial run if I feel too frozen to apply it to my real life.
When I am doing a self portrait I follow my instincts, often ending up messy and exhausted. But that is where the transformation happens - I feel different than I did when I started. It does not end there, the image must be shared. The audience is important - once I am witnessed, the transformation is solidified. Even if just in a tiny way, I am changed.
I grew up in a fundamentalist Christian cult and was kept separate from the world, physically and emotionally. Looking through the viewfinder was a way to embrace that separation and make it work for me rather than against me. The camera gave me purpose, a reason to be somewhere and to talk to people. Through the lens I was able to begin reintegrating myself in the world.
There is a moment I think of a lot. You are feeling broken, something is terrible and wrong. You are afraid to even speak it outloud. But then your friend is there, on the ground with you, telling you that she sees and understands your unique, secret pain. And suddenly, it all feels lighter.
That moment is what I create for. I put a piece of myself into these photos so that those who need a mirror to their darkness feel less alone. If we can’t see ourselves reflected back in the world around us, how can we figure out who we are?
Creating these works put me in new pockets of my mind, connecting me to who I am without the heavy influence of my past. I am mapping the darkness of my psyche, illuminating new areas and eliminating fear.
-Jaina Cipriano
Jaina Cipriano
Jaina Cipriano
exploring the emotional toll of religious and romantic entrapment. Her worlds communicate with our neglected inner child and are informed by explosive colors, elements of elevated play and the push/pull of light and dark.
Jaina is a self taught artist with a deep love for creative problem solving. She writes and directs award winning short films that wrestle with the complicated path of healing. In 2020 she released ‘You Don’t Have to Take Orders from the Moon’, a surrealist horror film wrestling with the gravity of deep codependency. Her second short, ‘Trauma Bond’ is a dreamy, coming of age thriller that explores what happens when we attempt to heal deep wounds with quick fixes.
Jaina’s photographic works forgoes digital manipulation, everything is created for the camera. She takes an immersive approach to working with models, approaching a shoot like a documentary photographer as her subject is let loose in a strange designed space. Working with Jaina is often described as cathartic and playful.
Jaina founded Finding Bright Studios - a design company in Lowell specializing in set design for music videos and immersive spaces. She has collaborated with GRRL HAUS, Boston Art Review, and was a Boston Fellow for the Mass Art Creative Business Incubator and a finalist in EforAll Merrimack Valley.
Her photographic work has been shown internationally.
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