Wheaton Wire

Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: Arts & Culture

Media Credit: Marina White ’11 Jenna Mason '08 proudly displays two photos from her repertoire of chilling self-portraits

Media Credit: Marina White ’11 Jenna Mason '08 plays the part of a cursed clown in one selection from her series, "The Faces of Insanity"

Studio Art major Jenna Mason, '08, says she was "always kind of a little artist." She was particularly interested in photography, but needed someone to show her how to use the camera so that it became "more of a tool than a machine."

She carefully lays out her photos so I can see them clearly, handling each one as though it's a living extension of herself. This is actually not far from the truth. Her photos, all self-portraits, tell the stories of "characters that make up parts of who [she is]," each carrying insightful meanings.

One set includes photos of her in a traditional voluminous wedding dress holding a wine glass filled with "poison." According to that particular story, a bride poisons all her guests when the groom dies on his way to the wedding.

This series provides just one example of Mason's tendency to experiment with an unusual mix of sadness and beauty, with just a little hint of madness.

A similar aura can be sensed in the image of a pregnant baby lounging seductively on a couch. This piece represents a commentary on people who have children before they get a chance to grow up themselves. Alluding partially to Britney Spears, Mason explains, "some parents never feel like parents."

The final series she displays, entitled "The Faces of Insanity," is shot on infrared film to give the photos a gritty, silvery look. Here Mason plays a clown, wearing heavy makeup that masks her features but not her emotions. The ghostly images tell the story of a clown cursed with constant laughter, even giggling away as she drowns in a dunk tank.

Mason hopes that her work "stirs some kind of emotion whether it's sadness or curiosity. If the viewer feels something, it's a success. I'm not trying to shock or awe, I'm just showing the viewer what my mind is like."

Her photos certainly achieve that goal. They have a classic, almost old Hollywood feel, but with a sinister flair. In each picture, the women represented all convey an aura of broken beauty.

Although Mason played with the notion of narrative in a poetry class, she found writing too structured and could not easily express her ideas. Art, on the other hand, takes her away from her other work at Wheaton. "It's like therapy. It's the only thing I think about."

After completing her degree at Wheaton, Mason plans to explore the professional art world, try to achieve an internship, and possibly undertake some freelance photography work.

Mason's next series will represent women as they experience "love, fear, madness and all that weird stuff." A vague description, but if her current work is any indication we can expect to see another facet of her personality represented with chilling elegance. Her work can be viewed alongside that of her classmates' from April 16 to May 16 in the Beard and Weil Galleries in Watson.

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