Yellow Girl II, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Editor’s Note: This feature was originally published on our previous platform, In the In-Between: Journal of Digital Imaging Artists, and the formatting has not been optimized for the new website.
Statement
Self-Exposure walks the line between reality and artifice; between soul searching and social commentary. Although each image is an introspective and expressive look at my own persona, each is also a critique of commonly held societal beliefs about feminine identity and contemporary expectations of women. The individual characters I create each express either expectations placed upon me as a woman in American society, or echo sentiments of the ideals I wish I could meet but fall far short of. Because these expectations arise from an amalgamation of sources, my characters of self-exposure are amalgamations as well.
Beginning with a specific idea, I photograph myself (and the other elements needed.) Although I currently shoot only using a collection of different iPhone models, I frequently modify them with alternative and handmade lens combinations. I utilize those specifically for the look and feel they lend to my photographs. Using my iPad, I composite these shots together, then heavily manipulate the image to further develop the message. After printing, I add hand work in charcoal, pastel or pencil, then mount the images to wood panel and hand-coat them with encaustic media.
Battered Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Duckface Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Split-Decision Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Dress Appropriately for the Game Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Woodland Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Truth and Lies Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
Happy Housewife Girl, from the series Self-Exposure. © Diane Nicholette Jeon, 2015
__________________
Bio
Honolulu, Hi-based artist Diana Nicholette Jeon spent 10 years working in high tech before returning to school to pursue her first love, art. Perhaps due to her experiences working in California’s Silicon Valley, she fell in love with Photoshop when she first encountered it in 1994. In school, she gravitated immediately to digital tools, while still pursuing training intraditional media. She attended the University of Hawaii where she received a BA in Studio Art, then dragged her husband and toddler all the way to Maryland, to pursue graduate work. Jeon was awarded her MFA in Imaging and Digital Art from the University of Maryland at Baltimore County in 2006. Afterward, she and her family happily scampered home to Hawaii, where she spent seven years teaching digital imaging and motion graphics at the college level. In 2013, she decided to plunge into producing her art on a full-time basis.
Jea’s work has been exhibitied extensively. Venues incllude the Museuo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Roverto, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the San Diego Art Institute, and the Tethys Gallery in Forence, Italy. She has received multiple awards from the Hawaii State Foundation of Art and Culture, a First Place and five Honerable Mentions from the 5th Mobil Photo Awards, and being named a Most Wanted Visionary at the Florence International Photo Awards. Jeon’s art has been featured in a wide array of publications, including the Huffington Post, LensCulture, Binfeng Space Art/Culture magazine, Corriere della Sera and L’arena. Her works are in many public and private collections, including the permanent collection of the State of Hawaii Art in Public Places program, the International Printing Museum, the Albert O. Kuhn Library Special Collections Department at University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Banca di Credito Cooperative di Cambiano, Florence Italy.
___________________________
Stay connected with In the In-Between