Jennifer Urso

Region: West

I create performance, video, and drawings that explore endurance, persistence, change, and ignored or forgotten moments and places. From my home base in Phoenix, AZ, I often reflect on the perceived emptiness of the desert in my work as an example of how complexity and density can be anywhere. My past exhibitions have captured fortitude through video, pictures, and abstract drawings, and engaged transformations, moments, and places that are overlooked or forgotten.

The series the things in between began after filming conversations that were edited so that all was left was the nonverbal communication, gestures, and facial expressions between those speaking. Complementary photographs explored the minutiae and subtlety in the vacant lots of downtown Phoenix. Then, using the videos and photographs as a launching point, I wrote about issues of complexity, perspective, and intangibles, and compiled this in a multi-layered art book “the things in between.” The writing fluidly transitions into organic, anatomical, and structured imagery for this series of drawings exploring the connections between these social and urban spaces.

Appearances