"The show is called The Pollinators. Much of the work draws from her interest in nature, and the pieces in the show reflect on the important work of the planet's endangered pollinators—but there's also a read of them as hybrid creatures with some aspects of the female face and form. They're kind of strange and a little monolithic. They are kind of moth-like and plant-like and relate to endangered species. But they also have neon coming out of their eyes."
"I feel like there's always a throughline in my work of being really concerned over our current system of capitalism, our extractive economy, and the degradation that happens to our planet and our bodies. That throughline can lead from endangered orchids and insects to the treatment of women. I've always been naturally more figurative in the work I make, and that's always been female characters or female-like hybridity."
Jessie Rose Vala's ceramic exhibition at Chefas Projects features sculptural works that blend earth, animal, and human forms to address humanity's disruption of the natural world. Her show, titled The Pollinators, explores endangered pollinator species through hybrid creatures that incorporate neon elements and references to the female form. Vala's artistic practice stems from her Pacific Northwest upbringing and her father's environmental activism. Her work consistently examines capitalism's extractive economy and its degradation of both the planet and human bodies, drawing connections between endangered species and the treatment of women through a lens of eco-feminism.
Read at Portland Mercury
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