Jazmine Ortiz

Curatorial Rationale

It is possible to feel trapped or alone while in a public setting. Throughout my artworks, I explored identity and depression that lead to difficult parts in my life. In my artworks I touch on the struggles of being a female in a male run society. Viewers will enter my exhibition to see my artwork hung up in a small space to portray the art being almost hidden out of sight. I want the viewer to see the idea of being almost trapped while still being in the open. I explore this by showing how enclosed the art is while surrounded by the white space. When a viewer sees my art I want them to feel emotional and lonely. My artwork depicts feeling anxious, and is placed in a way that tells a story through snippets of struggles on how society can affect a person’s identity and mental health. I want the audience to see a woman struggling with society and with herself.

An individual can be surrounded by a big group of people while still feeling alone. This is the idea that I had in mind when exploring the idea of portraying depression and anxiety, feeling as if you are trapped while in public places. I mainly explored this topic in Cold, Deep, and Hidden. The genre that mainly inspired my work is collage because of the many layers I can create by using different magazines and my own photographs. In Hidden and Gadgets, the different layers work together to complete a single composition, similar to how people’s identities are constructed. Each layer in the collage tells part of a story from my identity in particular. This layering shows what's real underneath a mask of positivity, as seen in Hidden, Unspoken, and Watching, by combining dark contrasts of value to lighter ones. Deep shows the feeling of gloom underneath the bright contrast of color.

Gadgets and Watching explore the feeling of being controlled by society and not meeting to its great expectations. The use of space emphasizes the feeling of restraint In contrast to Hidden, the space around the woman figures show how they can feel alone and isolated as they feel held back from living.

Some women can feel stuck or limited while in an open society because of certain values and beliefs in their culture.

Hidden is similar to Watching as these collage artworks portray someone in a bad mental state. In today’s society it may be difficult for some people to accept they are not okay. It can be difficult to admit to needing help. Both artworks use different proportions of a human to show tension between the person and the things surrounding it. This artwork is placed on the top middle as the biggest piece to resemble something that wants to be hidden by the rest of the artwork while also standing out. It explores someone’s identity as they deny needing or wanting help.

Fallen and Cold are watercolor pieces that connect to the collage pieces as they have different layering of paint and water. This artwork is about what it feels to give up and become unmotivated. The light to dark blue value shows the path to giving up as in the very bottom of the painting it turns darker. Society can pressure certain individuals making them feel lost and unmotivated. This art deals with sinking in to all the pressure that society places on an individual who has slowly been giving up on everything. Fallen will be placed on the bottom left to show the outcome of giving up on fighting the negative energy that may surround a person or follow them. It shows the overall idea of losing a battle within one’s self.

Overall my artworks connect because of all the internal struggles that one individual can face because of society’s expectations and how identity can be impacted. I use space, different values, contrast and layering to depict issues as a female in a male-run society who faces mental health issues. It can feel as if you are trapped while in open spaces.

None of the artwork in this gallery is for sale

Hidden

Magazine from Vogue, and National Geographic, Black Construction Paper

32x30 cm

This artwork was inspired by someone who feels depressed and lost, but is hiding behind a mask of positivity. The yellow flowers show a part of happiness that tries to shine over an overwhelmed face. Using images from National Geographic and Entertainment Weekly, I used layering and combining of cloudy pictures to show the story of the face in the middle going through a tornado of issues.

Not Available

Watching

Construction Paper, Vogue Magazine and Watch Time Magazine

13.2x21cm

This artwork shows how women in today’s society tend to let men take control. Women are observed all the time for any mistakes made in today's society and it can feel suffocating. The hands represent fixtures and actual people watching a woman’s every move. The watches represent how time passes but has not changed as much as we’d hoped it would. Women have so much potential and power but it can be withheld from society as other people try to control and limit women.

Not Available

Unspoken

Construction Paper, Vogue Magazine

13.2x21cm

This piece of art is in close connection to Watching as both artworks include the idea of being withheld and limited. This collage includes a woman whose complexion is colorless. She holds a flower above her face to symbolize the little light and hope she holds on to as she experiences dark times. She has no mouth to show how she feels censored and unworthy of any words.

Not Available

Gadget 1

Gadget 2

Gadget 3

Gadget 4

Gadgets

Vogue and Kitchen Magazines

40 x 55cm

Inspired by Dada collage, I used magazine cut outs from kitchen magazines and Vogue to create a series of collages in a journal exploring the way the women in my family were raised to always be in charge of cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. In my family, If you don’t know how to cook it means you aren’t ready to provide for the family. I find this notion problematic and unfair, so I humorously combined women’s bodies with household objects to show the absurdity of these expectations.

Not Available

Over

Glue, Construction Paper, Magazines from Times

20x25cm

I combined construction paper and magazine cut outs to create a scenario in which a woman can be seen in a physical and social state of power. Since the Latino culture and my own family has always been machista and view men as the superior gender, I decided to show a different perspective through this surrealist collage. The woman is visually bigger, dominating the lighthouse and man, placing herself as a beacon of power in the ocean.

Not Available

Fallen

Liquid Watercolor and Marker on paper

23x28 cm

I used different layers of liquid watercolor to complete a light to dark contrast of water. The feeling of giving up means giving in to the darkness as the figure in this piece of art is shown falling to the darkest part of the water. The colorless figure shows how empty she feels as she sinks down. Similar to Cold I used expressionism to express the feeling of hopelessness.

Not Available

Cold

Liquid watercolor and Acrylic paint

13x20cm

Using watercolor and acrylic paint, portrayed someone feeling trapped in an “open space”. When in open areas, sometimes you can feel overwhelmed and anxious. Your hands can get clammy and sweaty. I decided to show a different perspective as to how it feels being anxious and alone. This artwork was painted in an expressionist style to express a dark mood and anxiety.

Not Available

Disappear

Liquid Watercolor and Marker

30x23cm

Created with liquid watercolor and marker, this piece is of a figure sitting by a weeping willow. Weeping willows are known as beautiful trees but can seem very shady on the inside. The figure on the ground is transparent to show how it is disappearing under the shady tree. This expresses feeling isolated and unimportant as the figure is there but not fully.

Not Available

Contact the artist at jazmineortiz81@gmail.com

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