About

Jessica B. Raetzke is an artist and educator living and working in Alabama. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Photography from the University of Oregon, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from Savannah College of Art & Design.

Artist Statement

Theorist Henri Lefebvre wrote that what is intrinsic in the everyday is “the possible and the impossible, the random and the certain, the achieved and the potential.” I am interested in observing and documenting the moments of coalescence between becoming a part of, and being apart from, the everyday spaces and events we inhabit, placing one on the threshold of that which is knowable and that which is unseen. It is my intention to reveal the qualities of space and time, which are neither before nor after, but filled with potential.

             One of photography’s greatest and most deceptive attributes is its ability to simultaneously expose and obscure. Frames within frames act as entry and obstacle, denying resolution in the relationship between the subject and the spaces inside and outside of the frame. These images are meant to absorb what is read into them, in the same way that light is absorbed by a negative and eventually becomes a photograph. There is no gesture reaching out to the viewer to define the context of the subject within these spaces. No mask is made meaningful. There is only a sense of ambiguous significance, an invitation for the viewer to become a vital element in the creation of meaning within each image.