Art Mediums:  ceramics, lithograph, intaglio, screenprint, linoleum reduction relief

www.jessicamariemercy.com

My identities cannot exist in isolation; they reflect the many spaces I inhabit. By repeating imagery, I examine femme invisibility and identity while challenging traditional visual stereotypes. I think of my investigation into queer spaces as a gesture of preservation and reverence, creating a dialogue around the complexities they hold. This exploration manifests itself across the print, digital and ceramic media, with each piece influenced by my dysphoria, radical queer political views, identity performativity, and how that performance is received. Creating accessible, relatable fine art for my communities is the driving force behind my continual making and is a wellspring of inspiration.

“My identity as a high femme fag, a leather Daddy, and a loud gay has always influenced my art. It’s in the colors I use, the subjects I display, and the messages I project. My series Expendable // Disposable Femme directly calls back to the history of high femme erasure within the larger LGBTQIA community, using prints of my makeup pressed on thin cotton sheets. By examining the delicate layer of pigment that dooms feminine-presenting women and individuals to an eternal coming out, I hope to challenge traditional visual stereotypes.”

“Queer spaces, particularly bars, have always held a special significance for me. These places where we gather to be ourselves, find love, strengthen community, side-eye, and perform; these places feel larger than life to me. As a nightlife entertainer, they have been home for most of my gay life. Watching Seattle lose these locations to gentrification created an urgency within me to document them, to show others why queer spaces are so precious and necessary to our collective survival.”

“I feel pretty chill with my audience experiencing my art in whatever way they want. I am grateful for those who read my artist statements, ask me questions, and come to my artist talks because I think it is essential to try to understand the artist as well as the art. I like hearing the different ways people resonate with my work and how they find personal meaning in different pieces. That is one of the best parts of showing your work.”