Jocelyn Lee’s photography exhibit, “Last Light,” documents the death of her mother, whom she calls a collaborator in the work. The Italian-born photographer also holds a degree in philosophy from Yale, a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship, has taught at MECA, and now teaches at Princeton. Her work has been shown most recently at The National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
Lee’s choice to exhibit the work at the Area Gallery of the Woodbury Campus Center unframed, simply pinned-gives the images an increasingly momentary and intimate feel, one of impermanence. This is purposeful. There are tender images of sickness and death, beside images of blooming plants and children. Lee uses juxtaposition to stimulate the world as it exists, impermanent and intimate.
In a space like the Area Gallery, a very public one, the viewer doesn’t always anticipate walking into a gallery, per se. Several spectators have been disturbed by the image of Lee’s deceased mother, raising questions about the use of images of her corpse. Did this person give her consent? Assuredly, Lee states, the project was a collaboration between mother and artist.
“Lee is a lovely and complex person-sophisticated in her thinking,” says Carolyn Eyeler, curator of USM galleries, who worked with Lee in preparing the exhibit, “She’s interested in using figures and juxtaposing them in landscape that may be startling to us, using them to really make statements.” Eyeler said she sees this as a way the photo installation fits into the space that can be surprising to passerbys.
“What she does particularly well is use color. There are ways this show could’ve been sentimentalized, heavy. It’s a great example for say, art students, showing how you take something that is deeply meaningful and make it meaningful to others.”
Lee will speak about her work and answer questions on Friday, Nov. 14th at 1:00 p.m. in Gorham. This is part of a series of visiting artist lectures that take place certain Fridays in Burnham Lounge of Robie Andrews Hall.
“Last Light” will be on view in the Area Gallery until December 19.