JESSICA OLOFSSON
THE ARTIST
MIXED-MEDIA
Me and You (2021)
Installation
Me and You is an installation that asks questions about what makes us uncomfortable, and why? Self-portraiture and insects form the subject of this work, created to metamorphosise the two and emphasizing our relationships to the things that make us uncomfortable. The sculptures are lifelike but surreal, and ultimately disconcerting. We are often repulsed by insects, so by combining insectoid and humanoid features it asks where the limit of this repulsion lies.
The use of mirrors invites audiences to interact with their reflections and forces a sense of self-awareness, giving you no choice but to involve yourself in the artwork. Through this, you become a part of the active background of the piece. It aims to instil a sense of guilt or discomfort that occurs when one is unwillingly and unexpectedly met with their own reflection, both distorted and not. Suddenly, you’re faced with seeing and thinking of yourself in the third person.
Jess is an artist from Melbourne currently undertaking her third year of Fine Art at RMIT. She works across a painting, sculpture, and mixed media practice, with a focus on surreal representational art.
Her work largely revolves around nature, and she is particularly inspired by all things creepy crawly. She tries to present the relationships humans have with insects and why we can be so repulsed by them, but similarly protective.
Mirrors are a really important part of her practice, and she is intrigued by how reflections can trigger explorations of the self. Philosophical concepts of consciousness drive her mirror-based works, which encourage interaction and forces participation from viewers as they walk past the works.
