Bio:
Jen Sebring (they/them) is a Winnipeg-based, self-taught artist whose practice is primarily situated in photography but is often expanding across disciplines, methodologies, and mediums. Jen’s work is conceptually grounded in feminist theories of the body, and considers embodied knowledge as its main focus, largely shaped by their history of living with illness and disability. Their visual work has been presented at the University of Winnipeg and shown at Platform Gallery, and they have writing and scholarship published in The Mighty, Axis, Marvels and Tales, and Crossings, and upcoming work in the anthology Still Living the Edges as well as The Cripsters (Akimblog). Jen completed an honours Bachelor of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Winnipeg where they worked as an artist-researcher at the feminist art space, the greenhouse artlab, and as part of the research-creation collective, SWARM. Previously, they interned at Plug In ICA. Currently, Jen is a researcher and Master’s student in Community Health Sciences at the University of Manitoba studying illness narratives and disability arts and culture.
Artist Statement:
“Respecere” comes from feminist scholar Donna Haraway, meaning “ [an] act of respect. To hold in regard, to look back reciprocally, to notice, to pay attention…” and although this quote comes from her book, When Species Meet, I made this body of work while reading her latest publication, Staying with the Trouble. Staying with the Trouble really shaped my thinking around this work, in that her writing and theorizing looks at the project of multi-species living and dying together – living and dying well – on a damaged planet amidst ethical quandaries, uncertainty, and complexities of all kinds. I think it’s important to center my work alongside this publication, and feminist ecological thought as a whole.
Respecere, in this particular instance, refers to the act of considering the embodied space between human and horse at a single point in time, and what can be gained from reflecting on this momentary intra-action. It’s a sort of quiet, contemplative thing. Being in concert with the horse, and other non-human beings with the same sort of sensitivity and wisdom, invites us to fully experience the present moment. In taking these photographs, I wanted to sit with that, and capture that kind of meditative quality. The variety of images, both profile shots and detail shots, gets at this relationship too: What am I noticing? What is made possible for me to notice; what is he (the horse) noticing? What are the micro and macro elements, both in the environment, and between each other, that we are reacting and responding to?
This series was also a way of me resisting the ideology and actions that we, as humans, often perpetuate: that animals are property, or objects of entertainment, without any sort of critical reflexivity or regard for their agency. I’ve found this to be especially true with how we think about horses.. What does it mean to be with another being, with no agenda, no shared language, and to just listen, in a really holistic sense of the word? Whether with your ears or otherwise. What do we gain? Or more importantly, what do we learn through this hyper-embodied exchange, and how does it challenge the way we conceptualize our relationships to beings that are not human, and therefore considered “less-than”?
Jen Sebring
#1
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$260
Jen Sebring
#2
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$295
Jen Sebring
#3
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$260
Jen Sebring
#4
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$295
Jen Sebring
#5
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$295
Jen Sebring
#6
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$260
Jen Sebring
#7
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$260
Jen Sebring
#8
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$295
Jen Sebring
#9
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
16″ x 20″
$270
Jen Sebring
#10
2020
Black and white photograph on matte paper
20″ x 16″
$270