Born in Grand Rapids, MI, USA; lives and works in New York, NY, USA
An Artist Interview #41
Jenna Westra
by Jenna Westra
Exhibition view Thread Song
Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin
2024
Courtesy: SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY
Photo: def image
You mentioned that recently you have started working in a more experimental way in the darkroom, what’s your current technique like?
This new way of working is much more fluid and the outcome is often surprising; I’m mixing new negatives with negatives from my archive and improvising with physical moves like rotating the paper and changing the negative in the enlarger between two exposures. In essence I’m adapting ‘straight’ pictures into doubled overlays. These pictures exist between controlled approaches meeting with the unexpected results of the darkroom process.
You mentioned that recently you have started working in a more experimental way in the darkroom, what’s your current technique like?
This new way of working is much more fluid and the outcome is often surprising; I’m mixing new negatives with negatives from my archive and improvising with physical moves like rotating the paper and changing the negative in the enlarger between two exposures. In essence I’m adapting ‘straight’ pictures into doubled overlays. These pictures exist between controlled approaches meeting with the unexpected results of the darkroom process.
by Jenna Westra
Lemon Double, 2025
Unique chromogenic print
36 x 29 cm
Courtesy: Anthony Greaney
Photo: Peter Harris
by Jenna Westra & Josh Brand
Leaf into Person, 2024
Unique chromogenic print
35,56 x 26 cm
Courtesy: Anthony Greaney
Photo: Peter Harris
Which cameras, materials, and spaces do you work with today?
I’ve been working with the same trusted tools and spaces for a long time. I shoot color 35mm film on a Contax G2 and black and white 120mm film on a Pentax 6x7 medium format camera. I prefer to see the grain in color photographs and like to see clarity in black and white prints, that’s why I need to use both cameras in this configuration. My studio is in Long Island City, Queens and I’ve been there for 8 years thanks to the Hercules Art/Studio Program that provides subsidized spaces for recent MFA graduates in the city. The program was founded by the artist, architect and philanthropist Andrea Woodner. I built a darkroom in the basement there, so it’s very convenient to do a shoot upstairs in the studio and then print or process film spontaneously.
Which cameras, materials, and spaces do you work with today?
I’ve been working with the same trusted tools and spaces for a long time. I shoot color 35mm film on a Contax G2 and black and white 120mm film on a Pentax 6x7 medium format camera. I prefer to see the grain in color photographs and like to see clarity in black and white prints, that’s why I need to use both cameras in this configuration. My studio is in Long Island City, Queens and I’ve been there for 8 years thanks to the Hercules Art/Studio Program that provides subsidized spaces for recent MFA graduates in the city. The program was founded by the artist, architect and philanthropist Andrea Woodner. I built a darkroom in the basement there, so it’s very convenient to do a shoot upstairs in the studio and then print or process film spontaneously.
by Jenna Westra
Slide Projector Stage 1, 2024
Archival inkjet print
101,5 x 72,5 cm
Courtesy: SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY
Photo: def image
You’ve worked with some of the same models, often dancers, for over a decade. What does this creative community mean to you?
It means the world to me. I feel very lucky that all these people are open to working with me over time. I’ve been told from some of my collaborators that being in my studio and making pictures together feels very freeing and safe. There are not many spaces where women can be expressive with their bodies without the fear of being judged or desired, and I’m so happy to be able to provide that. Lately I’ve been making mural sized prints of images from past shoots and using them as props or backgrounds for people to interact with their past selves, this is only possible from our long standing working relationships.
You’ve worked with some of the same models, often dancers, for over a decade. What does this creative community mean to you?
It means the world to me. I feel very lucky that all these people are open to working with me over time. I’ve been told from some of my collaborators that being in my studio and making pictures together feels very freeing and safe. There are not many spaces where women can be expressive with their bodies without the fear of being judged or desired, and I’m so happy to be able to provide that. Lately I’ve been making mural sized prints of images from past shoots and using them as props or backgrounds for people to interact with their past selves, this is only possible from our long standing working relationships.
by Jenna Westra
Two Vivians (Print), 2020-2021
Silver gelatin print
61 x 51 cm
Courtesy: SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY
Photo: def image
by Jenna Westra
Untitled (Lemon, Mirror), 2019
Silver gelatin print
56 x 43 cm
Courtesy: SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY
Photo: def image
by Jenna Westra
Exhibition view Twinchecks
New York
2023
How do you guide your models’ movements? Do you choreograph, direct, or leave room for improvisation?
All of the above. Sometimes I have a ‘set list’ of images I want to make; simple descriptions or drawings that we recreate - these are very directed and specific. But people move around or are getting into poses and will make some transitional gesture that looks good in my viewfinder, so I’ll just ask them to pause or repeat, a kind of mix between the performance direction and chance shapes. Other times, especially when working with dancers, I trust that they know how they want to move and I’ll just wait to see when there’s a picture and snap it. So it’s like an intersection of choreographing/directing/improvisation.
How do you guide your models’ movements? Do you choreograph, direct, or leave room for improvisation?
All of the above. Sometimes I have a ‘set list’ of images I want to make; simple descriptions or drawings that we recreate - these are very directed and specific. But people move around or are getting into poses and will make some transitional gesture that looks good in my viewfinder, so I’ll just ask them to pause or repeat, a kind of mix between the performance direction and chance shapes. Other times, especially when working with dancers, I trust that they know how they want to move and I’ll just wait to see when there’s a picture and snap it. So it’s like an intersection of choreographing/directing/improvisation.
by Jenna Westra
Exhibition view Happy Mind: My Pose
Misako Rosen, Tokyo
2023
How do you initiate collaboration with new people, especially since working in Berlin? And how has this city changed your work in contrast to New York?
I post open-calls to cast new people, or just write to people directly if I want to work with them. I was invited to do a residency at the Neue Berliner Kunstverein these past weeks, organized by my wonderful gallerist Anne Schwarz. In preparation I reached out to a few friends from New York who are in Berlin. My friend the dance artist Sumayya Smith is in residency at Soft Power and was so kind to invite me to her studio to shoot with her and friends Tenaya Long and Caroline Felkins. Then I reached out to the dance duo Camilla Schielin and Julia Müllner after seeing some of their work on instagram. It was incredible to work with these amazing movers and I can’t wait to realize the new pictures.
In Berlin I was very out of my element, so it felt nice to connect with new collaborators and be welcomed, even embraced. We all felt a kinship right away as mutual visitors and art workers there – we came together from different states in the US and other countries in Europe. There was something very bohemian about it, which I loved. We will surely keep in touch and meet again somewhere in the world.
How do you initiate collaboration with new people, especially since working in Berlin? And how has this city changed your work in contrast to New York?
I post open-calls to cast new people, or just write to people directly if I want to work with them. I was invited to do a residency at the Neue Berliner Kunstverein these past weeks, organized by my wonderful gallerist Anne Schwarz. In preparation I reached out to a few friends from New York who are in Berlin. My friend the dance artist Sumayya Smith is in residency at Soft Power and was so kind to invite me to her studio to shoot with her and friends Tenaya Long and Caroline Felkins. Then I reached out to the dance duo Camilla Schielin and Julia Müllner after seeing some of their work on instagram. It was incredible to work with these amazing movers and I can’t wait to realize the new pictures.
In Berlin I was very out of my element, so it felt nice to connect with new collaborators and be welcomed, even embraced. We all felt a kinship right away as mutual visitors and art workers there – we came together from different states in the US and other countries in Europe. There was something very bohemian about it, which I loved. We will surely keep in touch and meet again somewhere in the world.
by Jenna Westra
Body Double (Maya), 2025
Unique chromogenic print
40,64 x 33,02 cm
Courtesy: Anthony Greaney
Photo: Peter Harris
by Jenna Westra
Space Between, 2024
Archival inkjet print
93,5 x 70 cm
Courtesy: SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY
Photo: def image
You’ve described precision as essential to your work. What does precision mean to you creatively and technically?
I think it’s just part of my personality, I like to plan and have things be organized in both my day to day life and studio practice. This comes out in my work very naturally. There is also a preciousness to analog materials, you can’t just delete things and try again, so a degree of planning and precision is necessary.
You’ve described precision as essential to your work. What does precision mean to you creatively and technically?
I think it’s just part of my personality, I like to plan and have things be organized in both my day to day life and studio practice. This comes out in my work very naturally. There is also a preciousness to analog materials, you can’t just delete things and try again, so a degree of planning and precision is necessary.
How has working with your partner influenced your practice or your approach to visual rhythm and composition?
Tailing on the above, working with my partner Josh Brand has moved me in a direction that is just a little less controlled and precise. Josh thinks of art making and photography as akin to improvised music or free jazz – he prefers not to know the outcome of what he’s doing so there’s the element of surprise and delight. We made a duo exhibition this past Spring at Anthony Greaney gallery in Somerville, MA, it was the first time our collaborative and individual pictures were presented. The pictures we make together are unrepeatable, interconnected, and discrete, whereas I usually edition my solo work. I will be making more unique prints as I have been recently.
How has working with your partner influenced your practice or your approach to visual rhythm and composition?
Tailing on the above, working with my partner Josh Brand has moved me in a direction that is just a little less controlled and precise. Josh thinks of art making and photography as akin to improvised music or free jazz – he prefers not to know the outcome of what he’s doing so there’s the element of surprise and delight. We made a duo exhibition this past Spring at Anthony Greaney gallery in Somerville, MA, it was the first time our collaborative and individual pictures were presented. The pictures we make together are unrepeatable, interconnected, and discrete, whereas I usually edition my solo work. I will be making more unique prints as I have been recently.
by Jenna Westra
Exhibition view Thinking Paw, with Josh Brand
Anthony Greaney, Boston
2025
What role does surrealism play in your work?
I’ve always been attracted to feminist surrealists, especially Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and the films of Maya Deren. I’ve probably watched Meshes of the Afternoon 50 times. Thinking about the Surrealist interest in dream states, that connects with how I sometimes come up with images I want to make – I’ll often wake up in the early dawn before getting back to sleep and pictures just float up as mental images. I always keep a notebook nearby to make a small notation so I remember. Our minds keep working while we’re asleep, and I think there’s something about that state between dreaming and waking where things are coming into focus.
What role does surrealism play in your work?
I’ve always been attracted to feminist surrealists, especially Claude Cahun, Hannah Höch and the films of Maya Deren. I’ve probably watched Meshes of the Afternoon 50 times. Thinking about the Surrealist interest in dream states, that connects with how I sometimes come up with images I want to make – I’ll often wake up in the early dawn before getting back to sleep and pictures just float up as mental images. I always keep a notebook nearby to make a small notation so I remember. Our minds keep working while we’re asleep, and I think there’s something about that state between dreaming and waking where things are coming into focus.
Contact
interview
Leopold Schaefer
Luis Bortt