Jessica Just
Jessica Just is a Texas based artist and photographer who received her BFA from Baylor University and her MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Many of her interests lie in various facets and manipulations of the past, and how it affects objects, tradition, outlook, identity, and memory. Mining through familial objects, photographs, and stories present a myriad of fascinating opportunities for new narratives and reinterpretations. Her work has been exhibited nationally and can be found in Private collections across Texas. She currently lives in Waco, TX and is an Assistant Professor of Art at Temple College in Temple, TX.
In addition to teaching and art making, Jessica also regularly speaks at conferences, and sits on the board of the Texas Photographic Society. You can find her cooking new meals, at the dog park, or planning her next adventure when she is not making photographs or teaching her students.
Sweet Face
Sweet Face is a body of work that begins to investigate various elements of tradition that saturate the American South. I was born in Georgia and have spent most of my life in Texas. Having lived in the South for most of my life, there has always been a dichotomy that exists within it that I am drawn to, especially as a woman. When beginning this series in 2020, I entered an abrupt and extended period where I was truly able to examine elements of my life on a foundational level. I found myself, like many others, angry and frustrated. With the world, injustice, with myself, and the surroundings that I was staring at every day.
I was raised to welcome anyone to my table and feed them well. I was told that denying myself was a part of life. I was raised to be kind, but sometimes at the cost of making myself small.
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
But this level of sweetness can serve as an excuse at times. A lure, or a sparkling gem that then stuns you and then blinds you.
“You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”
Sure, this honey is golden, pleasing, smooth. But it is also sticky, like quicksand for the tongue. What a welcoming facade. Perhaps, we need all the vinegar we can get.