JTP (Jessica T. Palmer)

Throughout college, the biggest question I have had to ask myself is, “what am I?” As a multimedia artist, I have found myself trying to navigate within the confines of metaphorical boxes that never quite told the full story of my artistic undertakings, often resulting in confusion, disconnect, and a lack of passion that I find so vital to the creative journey. With this thesis comes a reclaiming of the passion that brought me here in the first place. Represented visually is the exploration of concealment of identity juxtaposed with expression of identity, in relation to the role that plays in the transformative nature of special effects makeup. I touch on concepts such as performance art, anonymity, immortalization, breaking boundaries and bringing the inner world into the physical. With this lens in mind, I make connections to other artists and movements that have been inspirational to me and my craft. Highly conceptual in nature, these works oscillate between different interests of mine and show the importance of an idea to produce complexities within them. It is through these paintings and subsequent photographs, combining mediums, that I express my authentic self. In many ways, these compositions try to capture the viewer’s eye, engage them in a narrative, and in turn, hopefully transfer some of the awe that is experienced in the making process to them. This is JTP.