Artist's Statement

Jana Cruder

My latest fine art photographic series HERSTORY is a look into the complexities of feminism, the tiresome and callow demands of the patriarchy and the aftershock of relentless cultural programming. In this series we find our main character entering her sexual prime and pulled between mother-hood and her desire to make a difference in the world.

We find our main character exploring liberation from cultural norms, earning her own money outside the system, while feeling disillusioned by the daily corruption, exploitation and entrenched racism in her culture. Feeling the pull of the expected domestic life, while trying to find the right relationship with puzzling capitalistic symbols of happiness. She starts an exploration into the alternate realities of psychedelics. It all opens her, and her comrades, to possibilities far beyond what they were told to want.

Color is used in this series to coordinate colors of the 70's as well as take the viewer through a visual journey resulting in a panorama of candy colored scenes. Color and the use of color is an important nuance in the curation of all my photographic narratives.

HERSTORY is set in the 1970s, an era not unlike today - an era of cultural awakening (and resistance) to the symbiotic relationship of existence.