CONSTRUCTED FAMILIES by Jeanne Ju
October 19, 2013 11:00AM – 5:30PM
Kings Square, Harvesting the Arts
Third Space Gallery presents Constructed Families by Jeanne Ju and invites the public to pose in contrived family portraits in a fall-themed pop-up portrait studio at Harvesting the Arts.
Ju will construct families on site at the tenth annual Harvesting the Arts festival in King Square by bringing festival-goers who share similar facial and physical attributes together and photographing them. Subjects will don matching attire and pose in traditional family portrait poses. Constructed Families is a photographic investigation of the social units that exist within a culture, focused on the biological family.
The title of the series itself, indicative of the fabrication, prompts the viewer to question the notion of the family as a stereotypical family unit and to mull over the apparent relatedness of the grouped subjects. Constructed Families is meant to question the role family photography has in making the viewer feel like the outsider, the other.
“Though the series may seem to be a parody of commercial family portraiture, it is the attempt to question the construction of the family as a predictable social unit,” says Ju. “By grouping people with similar genetic attributes, the viewer is forced to question the role of the family and the influence it has on one’s identity in its social structure. In this regard, the fabrication prompts the viewer to question the idea of nature versus nurture in the context of their environment and culture.”
By grouping people with similar genetic attributes, Ju pushes the viewer to question the role of the family and the influence it has on one’s identity in its social structure. In this regard, the fabrication also prompts the viewer to question the idea of nature versus nurture in the context of their environment and culture.
Ju will install a temporary portrait studio in Kings Square at Harvesting the Arts festival on October 19th from 11AM – 5:30PM. An exhibit of the photographs taken at Harvesting the Arts will run be displayed from Nov. 4 – Dec. 13th on the first floor of Market Square.
About the Artist: Jeanne Ju was born in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. She holds a B.Sc. in Biology from Dalhousie University, a B.F.A. (Double Major in Photography and Media Arts) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and a Master’s of Science in Occupational Therapy from Dalhousie University. Jeanne Ju’s artwork often questions the role of vernacular photography in social structures such as the family unit. Currently working as a Clinical Occupational Therapist (OT) in Saint John, New Brunswick, Ms. Ju continues to lead the life of three’s as an avid athlete, artist and OT.
Third Space Gallery is pleased to partner with Fusion Saint John’s Harvesting the Arts for this special exhibit.
Support for the exhibition is provided by: Canada Council for the Arts; New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture; Fusion Saint John’s Harvesting the Arts and the Hardman Group.
Featured Image: Jeanne Ju, Constructed Family, 2011