Upcoming Exhibit

(Seattle, WA) – I'm Trying to Tell You Something is a visceral documentation of Intimate Partner Femicide by interdisciplinary artist Jennifer Leigh Harrison that explicates issues of erasure and denial through painting, performance, and installation. Coined by the UN as a “shadow pandemic,” Harrison references "patriarchal terrorism" as not being a simplification of men killing women, but a consideration of the many undocumented murders that reveal a broader issue of power and location. 

Seattle Collegian reviews 'House of Self'

The idea behind Harrison’s work, both in her paintings and clinical work, is not the restoration of one’s original state, but the transformation and integration of parts of the self that are wounded, messy, and confused, into a cohesive, beautiful, and lively whole. It is the discovery of a new way of being through the act of taking back layers, “to get back to some of the state of origin, that is never quite what it was ever again—but something more wise, more worn, more beautiful in all its experience.”

Jennifer Leigh Harrison: Excavating the Human Condition Through Abstract Embodiment

Jennifer Leigh Harrison's oeuvre represents a visceral dialogue between the body, space, and the complexity of human emotion. Her work delves into themes of embodiment, survival, and the layered dynamics of time, consistently challenging the viewer’s perception of reality and abstraction. The physicality with which Jennifer Leigh Harrison approaches her canvas—eschewing traditional tools for more industrial materials like steel, cloth, knives, and wood—imparts a raw energy and intensity that underscores the emotional and thematic weight of her creations. In her statement, she eloquently describes how each piece reveals itself during the process of creation, a notion reflected in her abstract, textured, and deeply layered surfaces.

Much like the great action painters of the Abstract Expressionist era, Jennifer Leigh Harrison’s method is inherently performative. Jackson Pollock’s gestural strokes come to mind as Harrison manipulates her materials with an immediacy that blurs the line between painting and performance.

Interview with Adele Kotze →

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