Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Swank.
Hi Jessica, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I think my passion for art grew seriously starting in high school. I attended the Fine Arts Center in Greenville, SC and it was the first time I was surrounded by so many like-minded people. After that experience, I knew that the only path for me was one in the arts. I studied Interior Design once I got to undergrad, but ended up changing my career two years after graduating. I decided to pursue my MFA instead and graduated from Clemson University in 2021.
Graduate school was transformational in many ways, but one of the great things that came out of it was my cohort and our art collective, Zero Space. We founded our collective in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and have been working to exhibit, speak and advocate for artists ever since. We’re still growing, and it’s been exciting to see the connections that have come out of it. Currently, I teach at the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University, continue to make work, and am also a member of Tiger Strikes Asteroid Greenville.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My biggest struggle was changing my career path so quickly after graduating from college. It was emotionally difficult to reconcile the time I had spent pursuing the wrong career path, as well as mentally difficult to figure out how to get to where I wanted to be. I put endless hours into making work, applying for opportunities, and “playing catch up” because I felt like I was behind in some way. It taught me discipline and I’m grateful for where that drive got me, but I wish I had realized sooner that I didn’t have to make up for any sort of lost time. Every step I took got me to the place I’m in today, and without the challenges, I wouldn’t be the same artist or person I am now.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I primarily work in photography and sculpture, and I’ve found that overlapping the two media are really where my interests lie. My photographic work is all constructed, and my subjects for the images are typically sculptures that I make. Right now my work centers around the relationships humans have with technology. I’m really interested in the dichotomous nature of that relationship, and the different ways that I can turn that into a visual. When you examine that relationship closely, you find that the structures and systems between the technological and biological worlds are not so different. It is easy to blur the lines between them when the digital world is carefully modeled to mimic what we are already familiar with.
Recently I’ve been making more sculptures than photographs. I primarily work with silicone, turning the material into flesh-like membranes that match my own skin. Sometimes, the silicone will be combined with hair, dryer lint, or other remnants of myself that serve as abject traces of my own existence. The sculptures become extensions of myself and frame the work as self-referential and personal rather than comprehensive.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
I think that adaptability is especially important for artists. Artists are learning new skills every time they make work, but also consistently need to promote and advocate for themselves, market to others, develop connections, and much more. A willingness to learn and the ability to adapt have gone a long way for me personally, and have helped me become more self-sufficient in the long run as well.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jessicaswank.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicawswank/
- Other: https://www.zerospacecollective.com/
