Colby Jennings

(video still)

(video still)

I perform, document, create, draw, and write in order to investigate my understanding of masculinity and the role memories have played in the construction of my identity as a male.  These investigations manifest in a number of ways including videos, installations, books, and photographs.  I attempt to create opportunities for reflection and meditation which act as windows through which my memories of masculinity and its rituals become accessible to the viewer.  Much of what I make pays homage to these memories while dissecting their effects.  As meditation, my work serves as a system of communication to explore both personal and interpersonal relationships.  The entire artistic research process is a therapeutic means of expressing the anxiety I experience in relating to the concept of masculinity and how that tension affects my identity.

Much of this current work represents fragments of time and place relevant to my perception of masculinity.  The present elements come from overlapping memories constructed by multiple senses.  Each individual piece represents a separate observation of quasi-ritualistic masculine behavior while hinting at the source of these practices .  I am attempting to form a more interconnected awareness of the model of masculinity that, because of specific links and attachments, I have both rebuffed and embraced.

artist statement: