Jena Ataras
Interview with Jena Ataras, first place winner of the “Beautiful | Grotesque 2024” competition.
Spider, 26x27, mixed media, 2024
Can you provide a brief overview of your journey as a visual artist and how you got started?
I have always seen myself as a Storyteller first, and everything else falls under that umbrella of work. My father was a writer, and I as a child was always putting on plays and writing scripts for shows to put on, and writing ideas down on restaurant napkins. It was a normal thing for me to bike around my neighborhood looking for other kids to play with me and act in my shows, bestowing big bags of candy was their payment for labor. As I became older, my mother put me in creative writing classes, so I assumed I was a writer like my father and received my BFA in Creative writing. Once graduated, I took a job in Social Work and continued to write and act in plays in New England. But over time I became bored with writing and assumed it was Writer’s block, until I took an art class at Stanford and fell in love with the breadth of visual arts. I felt free and excited to experiment with different ways to tell a story and no longer felt like I was in a straightjacket!
Wisdom, 30x45, mixed media, 2024
How would you describe your artistic style, and what themes or concepts do you often explore in your work?
I think I lean into a more stylized method. I love playing with shapes and distortion of bodies and faces, and use of color, while examining themes that are unpleasant and weird. My childhood and young adulthood was rife with extreme racism. I was bullied by my peers and my teachers, I was beaten, spit on and hit with rocks. Death was a notion I danced with many times. Somehow my love for learning and connection with my fellow human beings was not purged. Because of my experience with human violence, I often crawl into the womb of darkness to explore the psychology of bias, hate and deceit that plagues the US. But, I also wish to demonstrate a way out of that darkness and find connection through our humanity. Some of the artists that I am drawn to are: British writer and actress, Michaela Coel, Wangechi Mutu, the late comedian, Robin Williams and Lil Nas X.
Blub, Blub, 23x24, mixed media, 2024
Do you have any specific rituals or routines that help you get into a creative mindset?
It’s funny, even though I don’t see myself as a writer, every day, I sit down with a big mug of delicious light roast coffee at my computer, and write notes to myself. I write what is bothering me, what jokes I thought were funny at a comedy stand-up, etc. From there I start sketching ideas, faces, mixing prints together using many types of software, until a theme begins to reveal itself to me. I am not religious, but the ritual does feel spiritual at times, certainly cathartic. I love using digital collage to be kind of a storyboard for me to experiment with.
Love, 18x19, mixed media, 2024
What challenges have you faced in your artistic career, and how did you overcome them?
Challenges I have faced and continue to face is how to be me and all its complexities that come with being a Queer, WOC, in a society that feels incredibly divided and scary. Sometimes I want to create works that are whimsical and light, but I do carry this burden that I feel as a Brown Artist that I must talk about the poisons in our country and offer solutions to solve them. I feel neglectful if I don’t talk about those issues in my work, while at the same time, I feel resentful that once again, I feel pressure to participate in the clean-up of a mess I didn’t create. So, it’s a dance between trying to still be the Societal Nurse, wanting to help and fix and heal vs. just being a person who wants to talk about silly things. I also wish to delight and make people laugh, I don’t always want my work to be deep and morose.
Woodland Fairy, 20x30, mixed media, 2024
Where do you see yourself as an artist in the next few years? Are there specific projects or collaborations you aspire to undertake?
I would love to do some collaborations with fellow artists! It can be a play or short film, or music or something in between. Work on an Installation together. Perhaps work on a Zine with others! I hope my work continues to grow and change but still feel like me. I am a very curious person so I will always be experimenting with different mediums and continue to take art classes so that I can push myself out of my comfort zone.
What advice would you give to young artists or beginners? Any final thoughts?
Anyone who is new to this world, I would say listen to your own voice. Yes, watch YouTube videos, but also go to the Museums in your city and take a community art class. Get around your fellow artists! You get to meet people who are just starting out, to people who have been doing this for 50 years and can offer such amazing wisdom and feedback. I also think it’s important everyday do invest in your work. Find time every day to write down, sketch, paint something that is meaningful to you. Every day I work on a piece and every night before I fall asleep I text myself an idea, no matter how crazy it sounds. I mean, my series, My Beautiful Freak came from one text to myself at 4am! Don’t wait, you can never get that time back. Act like you’re on fire! Do it!
Thank you, Jena!
Pink Freak, 18x20x0, mixed media, 2023
About the Artist:
Artist Bio
Jena Ataras is a Portland-based artist working predominantly with mixed media
and digital collage. She desires to shift her viewers’ perspectives through the
exploration of deconstructed materials and forms, to expose societal underbellies.
Inspired by a variety of tactile elements - from transformed hues to dimensional
phenomena - Ataras creates unexpected visual conversations with her art. She pulls
apart a range of genres and textures to reveal the hidden possibilities within each
material. Her constant experimentation of form and usage of mixed media allows
her to reveal otherwise obscured concepts, dissolving boundaries to create new
perspectives. Ataras’ work is a powerful example of art as an activist, questioning
norms and advocating for a world beyond binaries.
Artist Statement
In a country (USA) that often shies away from discomfort, and instead force feeds
the population with reality shows and junk food, I use my work to confront the
difficult truths of the human experience, including suffering. Through my art, I
invite viewers to explore the complex emotions that come with suffering, and to
find compassion and empathy for those who are struggling.
My work often features raw and personal imagery, which can be difficult to
view. However, this is precisely the point. I believe that it is important to face our
discomfort head-on, in order to better understand the world around us and
ourselves.
What I create and develop is not meant to shock or sensationalize
suffering. Rather, it is meant to open up a dialogue about these important
issues, and to create a space for healing and connection.
In one of my most recent series, “Beautiful Freak” my work interweaves negative
judgements about Queer and Brown bodies into something strange but beautiful.
You are welcomed to come and stare, and marvel at what “difference” can offer!
My work is a powerful reminder that we are not alone in our suffering. It is also a
reminder that even in the midst of darkness, there is hope, and an opportunity for
growth and to be valued!