Jess Hauserman
Documenting Village Life, 2014
The compositions of these images aim to reflect a motion, the ceaseless movement in the world hussle of the marketplace. There is an overwhelming sense of interconnectivity in this community. While emphasizing the intricate scene of a moment captured in these settings, I aim to portray the universality of a moment of fear, a moment of chaos, of joy, of the relentlessness of a day’s work. They are all expressed through the unfailing hospitality of those who gave me a glance into their lives in Southwest Mexico. I believe in the importance of learning about ourselves through the process of understanding the world around us. Through experience and open-mindedness we are able to broaden and sharpen the lens with which we view our world.
Haymarket, 2011
In the Fall of 2011 I moved to Boston from the sleepy suburb of Cornwall-on-Hudson in New York, and I was smitten with the cultural diversity and artistic opportunity this fast paced city had to offer. I attempted to capture the newfound vibrancy I felt on the faces and structures in my new surroundings by making pictures in and around Haymarket Square. This fresh air fruit and vegetable market was most alive in the early morning hours between six and seven a.m. on Friday and Saturday morning. Every kind of person imaginable to me was participating in this complex and beautiful transaction. This project opened my eyes to the abilities of the medium to discuss the way I see the effect of social inequality as well as the effect of a struggling economy.
"Either, Or" 2015
Every act of perception is an act of categorization. This concept allows us to relate entities together into classes, and provide a basis for understanding as well as implication. Although categorization enables us to organize the world, it is the social constructs of gender that shape our physical experience, more specifically, our public restroom experience. In the United States we actively participate in this ritual in public realms. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, my goal is give voice to this act of categorization and the implications of how those who are marginalized by it are affected. These images aim to create a visual representation of a spatial narrative that impacts everyone, but more importantly, those who do not conform to a binary system. The categorization of people into two sexes is a social construction, imposed on an individual by society. With respect to social cognition, these images are mostly interested in the various subtle representations of gender identity through decoration, design and accentuation. It is those who do not necessarily adopt the corresponding masculine or feminine gender role that are at a disadvantage in relation to the environment in which people are required to choose one, or the other. My question is, once we pass the sign on the door, does it really matter?