EFA STUDIO PROGRAM: ALUMNI

Jeanette May

Artist's Website
Inside the Artist’s Studio Documentary

Jeanette May is a photo-based artist using a critical, sometimes playful, approach to investigate representation. Although May now works exclusively in photography, her background in painting informs the subjects she explores and her art production.

May’s photographs juxtapose the seductive designs with the inner workings of “Curious Devices” to reveal our complicated relationship with obsolete technology. Surrounded by rich silks and damask wall covering, arrangements of domestic wares suggest 17th Century Dutch vanitas still life paintings with their air of craft guilds, international trade, and personal wealth. Some gadgets are open to expose archaic gears or the enigmatic architecture of circuit boards. “Curious Devices” examines technology without easy answers but with a sense of wonder and trepidation.

May earned her MFA in Photography from CalArts and her BFA in Painting from the University of Illinois. She has earned awards from the NEA Regional Artists’ Projects Fund, Brooklyn Arts Council, NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs, Illinois Arts Council, and Ms. Foundation. Her work is exhibited internationally, including New York; Chicago; Los Angeles; Shanghai, China; Milan, Italy; and Athens, Greece.