#NewVisions2021: Winner Spotlight
Jessica Just, TPS Board Member and Instructor at McLennan Community College and Baylor University, recently talked with Jackelyn Bracamontes, about her experience as Grand Prize winner of #NewVisions2021. Below is a slightly edited version of their conversation.
Call for entry for #NewVisions2022 is open now. Learn more here!
Jessica: I'm really excited to talk to you about your work, and about the images that you won your new camera with. Are you ready to get started?
Jackelyn: Absolutely!
Jessica: So the first thing I would like to ask you is about your background with art and photography. What got you interested in that?
Jackelyn: I think the first time I ever got to really experience art that I can remember was in sixth grade. I had this amazing teacher and she gave us these really cool assignments - she sent us home with disposable cameras. We were supposed to take self-portraits for this project and that was my first time really getting to play with the camera. I kind of just fell in love with it. Then my grandma got a camera and obviously I stole that until she just gave it to me! And that's how I got into photography.
Jessica: I understand that you were a student of my fellow TPS Board Member Steve Goff at Odessa College. I was wondering if you would tell us little bit about what the program at Odessa did for you, what you learned there, and how it prepared you for where you are now?
Jackelyn: My gosh. I'm emotionally attached to that place so hard it makes me cry. I love that place so much. And Steve was wonderful, and I actually got to work as a lab assistant in the dark room and the photo lab for three years while I was there. It was my home.
It just opened so many doors. I had been able to play with film cameras before but had no idea what I was doing. Once I took Steve's class, everything just made sense and the whole world opened. I’m not even kidding. He would share information about different exhibitions as well as calls for entry. I started applying to calls and I started getting into most that that I applied for. That was just really exciting and I thought, “Oh my gosh, I could do this.”
Jessica: So it kind of sparked your joy for photography—got you started. Could you talk a little bit about where you're at now—you're at Texas State, right?
Jackelyn: I'm at Texas State, Yes!
Jessica: Can you talk a little bit about that and why you chose to go there. How is it different from Odessa? What are you learning now?
Jackelyn: Well, I originally transferred for the photography program because it was one of the only universities that I was looking at that still had a darkroom. And they actually had just built a new facility right before I applied. But then once I was transferring, I had some problems with too many credits and it was a really complicated mess to switch into the photography program. So now I'm a ceramics major! But because it's a studio art major as a whole—with an emphasis in ceramics—I still got to take a photography class last semester. However, it was a very different experience. Ceramics has opened up a lot of new thought processes when it comes to conceptual work. Working in 3D has challenged my brain as the concerns are very different.
Jessica: So as far as your work that won the grand prize in #NewVisions2021, can you talk a little bit about that first image—the one with the yellow balloons and you're in the back. What are the thoughts behind it?
Jackelyn: I moved out of my parent’s house to come to Texas State. I had lived away from them before, but never completely alone. This was my first time in my own apartment. And with that, I had the freedom of a little bit of money and I'm a really goofy person. So the first thing I did was buy a hundred yellow balloons and started blowing them up!
I'd been working with the socks for a while—which sounds silly, but my Instagram is full of the sock pictures. I was given the rainbow socks as a gift and they kind of just sparked something. I started photographing, wearing those socks all over the place. Once I had the idea, it just kind of came together - all of my bathroom decor was yellow. I had the yellow balloons, I had the orange socks, which kind of looked aesthetically pleasing with it. And then I just thought it would be really funny if I was covered in balloons. The balloons represent bubbles like in a bubble bath. Part celebration, with a little bit of anxiety, because it's the first time being on my own.
Jessica: You've been making work with the socks in some of your other images, too. So is that some sort of symbolism—do they drive a narrative in your work somehow?
Jackelyn: There are a couple of reasons why I use the socks. Originally, my idea had something to do with my identity. I wear sturdy leather shoes and boots and things like that, but then I wear these really colorful socks that are kind of hidden. So I was thinking about that as a metaphor for my outward self and my inner person. As I've been going through this transformational process—being away from home, going through the university experience—I found that I don't really need that outward protection I thought I did. And so that's one way that the socks came up. I went to Zion National Park with the socks and I did photos there. Now they're starting to have holes in them because of all the places that I've taken them. I had also started photoshopping out my body because of insecurities at first, and then I realized that Instagram is a highly curated platform and not everyone is conscious of that when they're using it. And I think that's slightly problematic.
I wanted to make my viewers, and people who follow me on Instagram, a little bit more conscious of the fact that they're getting a curated image from me. So I started photoshopping out my body and it was kind of silly. I was thinking about identity in general and how we form these ideas of identity around other people - it's so complex. I get really excited but I also get a little bit lost in my mind because I still I love all of the other bits of it. Then I started noticing that people would message me on Instagram with pictures of socks and they'd be like “This reminded me of you”, and my identity to them through the platform became socks. And I thought that was really interesting – how a person could be represented by socks with no other context.
Jessica: In the second image, of you in the couch, I assume that it's you wearing the socks. Do you want to talk a little bit about that image?
Jackelyn: Yeah. So that was in my living room at the time. There is a musician named Violet that I was really, really into, and when I first moved over here, she had a concert in Austin and I went to that within my first two weeks of living here. She has a music video where she's rolling around on the couch and for one short little clip, she's under the couch cushions. I thought that was really funny. So I echoed that with mine. However, mine has a different context because it's not quite as limited on the color palette and it's more of a real life scene. It also has this context of, especially with COVID, that you've been in this experience that we've all been going through. Being more homebound, and with all those things, I kind of reached this breaking point. I heard a comedian talking about how he sits on his couch for 12 hours so that he could go lay in bed after. And I stole the rest of the quote from him for the title of the image: sometimes I get the urge to exercise, but I lay down until it goes away.
Jessica: I saw that you received a new Fujifilm camera as the grand prize for the #NewVisions competition. Can you talk about a little about how you've been using it, if it's going to change how you make images, and how you are liking it?
Jackelyn: Yes, so it has been working really well for my current purposes, because before I was using a remote shutter release. The Fujifilm camera has a built-in feature where I can view the screen from my phone. Because I do self-portraits, that was a really exciting aspect about it. As soon as I unboxed it, I started working with it right away. I took an image that I'm still working on – specifically the photoshopping part of the image. But yeah, it is really exciting now I can see what I'm doing and not just take 15 shots with waving my legs in the air!
Jessica: What do you see for yourself next? Is there a dream job or a dream thing you want to do with your art once you get out of school?
Jackelyn: I've been thinking about exactly that for the past couple of days because I'm a senior. There's so much possibility, and there's so much freedom that comes after this, that I'm kind of stunned. I would love to be a working artist with my own studio practice. I really want to do residencies and travel. I'm a big traveler, and that's where a lot of my work comes from. Some of it is done in my home, and some of it is done while travelling, and those are my two favorite places. I want to see everywhere!
Jessica: What did the #NewVisions exhibition mean to you, and what was your reaction to seeing that you won the grand prize?
Jackelyn: I was so excited. I was in a hotel room with my great aunt when I found out. And I just started jumping around—I couldn't even talk.
It meant a lot because I really want to start pursuing solo shows in galleries and group shows where I could exhibit more work. Quite some time ago, a gallery director told me to apply to more shows to build more success, and that if I won any prizes it would be easier for them to give me a solo show. So that was the second thing that came to mind with the #NewVisions prize - because it is a step closer to that goal. Having work exhibited in the Venice Biennale is my big crazy dream, and I'm slowing inching my way closer!
Jessica: So what's next for you this semester? Are there any exciting projects that you're doing photographically or with your ceramics?
Jackelyn: I'm working on a way to incorporate a lot of the things that I love working with. Currently I'm working on translating the narrative that I bring to photography to my ceramic work because in the past I have been more focused on functional ceramic work. And I actually just wrote a big proposal for my next project with ceramics, maybe exploring more of the stories from my childhood and of my grandparents because I'm Mexican-American and there's a lot of history.
Jessica: Well, that’s pretty amazing. I just want to thank you again for your time, and for letting us at TPS interview you! Congratulations again!
Jackelyn: Thank you!
QUESTIONS?
If you have any questions, please contact TPS Executive Director Ann Shaw at ann@texasphoto.org.