Ellen Jantzen's Losing Reality, currently on display at C-Train Gallery, touches on themes of memory and forgetting, conveys the passage of time and the transitory nature of our human existence, and gives presence and voice to those who have been lost to death and/or dementia.
Jantzen's digitally manipulated photographs convey a sense of lingering being, like a spirit suspended in time or a will o' the wisp or a memory becoming lost. Auras and halos define spots where people have been or have walked. Often their eyes and gazes penetrate through their fading presence to confront the viewer. They convey a sense of loss, a yearning for a connection that has passed, a bereavement and mourning for what was once but is now gone. A feeling of hope and transcendence is also evoked in some of the artworks, as if of an otherwordly entity in the process of moving on or having moved on but now hearkening back to connect with those left behind.
According to her artist's statement, Jantzen chooses the environments for her photographs based upon locations in which some loss has recently occurred, creating a tension that reverberates between real-life experience and an alternate reality. Many of these scenes reflect upon personal losses she has faced, though some are sites of a more universal nature. All bespeak the act of grieving, and in this process many convey a strong sense of catharsis, both for the artist letting go and the viewer invited on the journey to acceptance.
Ellen JantzenLosing Reality
C-Train Gallery
4320 Forest Park Ave., Ste. 101
