Essay from, "She Is... Perceptions of Female Identity

Exhibit at Cushing-Martin Gallery at Stonehill College, Easton, MA 2005

Themes of death, family, and feminism have permeated recent paintings by Jessica Grace Brooks. Her masked figures and imagery often call to mind the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration, a festive holiday during which families gather to remember and honor the dead and celebrate life. Brooks became fascinated with Mexican culture while in college, particularly the celebration of the Day of the Dead. The celebration includes setting up altars of offerings to commemorate deceased family members and celebrate their status as a link between the living and the Divine. The day also includes annual visits to family gravesites, food, flowers, and a generally livelier atmosphere than is typically associated with death. Brooks finds “romance in people conjuring up the spirits of loved ones,” and believes that this celebration and culture is one that “helps deal with death in a healthier way than my own culture has taught me.” 1

In Nina I (2003) and Three Graces (2003) the women don the type of masks worn during Day of the Dead celebration. Death in the Family’s (2005) bright colors may conjure up images of calm joyous times, proof positive that Hispanic culture deals with this inevitable facet of life in a more celebratory and life-affirming way than most cultures. Another motif in Brooks’ paintings is the female figure. The human form in Brooks’ works is always female, as often are the canine subjects featured in some pieces. This strong feminine presence combined with themes of family and death create what the artist defines as “underlying moody and dramatic imagery.” 2

Much of Brooks’ work has been autobiographical, at times unconsciously so. When she was thirteen, she and her two sisters experienced the death of their father. Upon his passing, the idea of death became an underlying thought in her life and eventually in her paintings. The trios in Death in the Family and Three Graces parallel Brooks and her two sisters, while portraying aspects of  Mexican practices of dealing with death- the bright colors of flowers and clothing and the masks worn during the Day of the Dead celebrations. Nina I may also carry deeper autobiographical emotions and imagery. Upon studying her earlier work, Brooks noted that she seemed “to always be paintings this young girl.”3 This soon brought about a realization that this “girl” was around the age the artist was when she lost her father.

Through these paintings I was trying to work through some issues I obviously hadn’t gotten past. I feel I still am. But it’s such a subconscious level. I wasn’t even aware of what I was doing. That’s why I saw that my childhood influences them more than I’ll ever realize.

She now finds this practice therapeutic. Brooks’ paintings have been an outlet for her views on family, death, and what it means to grow up female.

A personal realization of these themes coincided with a change in Brooks' style of painting. She had been trying different applications of oil medium for some time. “I’ve always been in love with oil painting. It’s so sensual and fluid, I could never work with acrylics, ever.” 5 Brooks’ earlier works were impressionistic, painted with a flurry of active brushstrokes. The exact forms of the figures were vaguer and painted in more organic colors. Brighter, more stylized, emotionally charged, and perhaps more confident figures now grace her canvases. Brooks’ new pieces are created with controlled brushstrokes and feature a purposeful two dimensionality reminiscent of the works of Frida Kahlo. The figures boldly took a new shape as Brooks discovered more about herself and the present themes of her work emerged.

The works in this show feature some of the freshest examples of this new style.

She is…Perceptions of Female Identity asks viewers to take a deeper look at female subjects to discern who they are, how they feel, what they are thinking. These inward thoughts may be outwardly hidden, and never in this case more true than in the paintings of Jessica Grace Brooks. Her paintings challenge the viewer to look past the masks, both literal masks and the masks created by unfamiliar setting, costume, and culture. Behind them are underlying themes, events and emotions that may not at first glance be apparent, but reveal themselves upon closer look.

1 Artist’s statement. 2 Artist’s statement. 3 Correspondence with artist, 11 October, 2005. 4 Correspondence with artist, 11 October, 2005. 5 Correspondence with artist 11 October, 2005.

-Sarah Fagan

Jessica Grace Brooks was born in Newburyport, Ma and grew up in nearby Salisbury, Ma. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Ma in 2000. As one may discern from her three works in She is…Perceptions of Female Identity, her medium of choice is oil painting. She currently lives in Boston, and has participated in various open studio exhibitions as well as several group shows including “30^th Anniversary Alumni Exhibition” at the Montserrat College Gallery in 2000, “Me by I, Curious Brain Showcase #5” at the Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge in 2002, and “New Talent” at the Chase Gallery on Newbury Street in Boston in 2003.