Bio

Jessica Gianelli is a photographer from New York, currently based in London. Prior to receiving a Masters of Arts in Fashion Image from Central Saint Martins, she studied Fashion Styling and Creative Direction at Istituto Marangoni London. Having began her practice with a strong background in visual research for creative direction, a desire for storytelling through imagery soon surfaced, and through her self taught approach, photography became the vessel with which these stories could be told and experienced. For Jessica, the work exists as a continuous examination of how history, place, memory, and experience come together to inform identity. She is drawn to the stories of women, and the largely 'unseen,' observing the ways in which these stifled identities have evolved as a result of their surroundings, and exploring how the photographic process might foster empathy, reclamation, and freedom for the subject, the viewer, and the self. When we reaffirm our power, and step into our 'self-hood,' can we in turn manipulate the way in which the external world engages with our image, our bodies, and our stories? These are the questions she considers, where the endeavour exists as a spiritual interaction, allowing personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences, to meet research, and discussion, while the camera eventually acts as a bridge for this connection, a vessel for it, even, as well as a conduit for personal liberation. The research that initiates each of her projects generally stems from spiritual, psychological, sociological or philosophical exploration, and is usually synthesised towards a variety of visual outcomes dependent on the natural course of the creative cycle, including portraiture, moving image, performance, and the printed object. Through these mediums, she hopes to highlight a range of identities, offering perspective into the kaleidoscopic nature of human experience. Her practice, which engages an amalgam of techniques, extends this obsessive desire towards a spiritual observance of the human condition in an effort to both capture the nuance of identity and foster said connection through the experience of creating imagery. Experimenting with colour, texture, and context, Jessica’s intimate works exist as a vessel for both the introduction and exploration of personal truths. Her work has been exhibited by The British Journal of Photography, LUMA Arles, and Palm* Studios.