• ELIXHER
• On September 4, 2013

Jennifer Packer is a queer Black woman, Philly-native, and painter. She received her BFA from the Tyler University School of Art at Temple University in 2007. She is also a 2012 MFA graduate of the Yale University School of Art. When the Studio Museum in Harlem picked up the ridiculously talented Packer as one of three artists in residence for the 2012-2013 season, ELIXHER spoke with the artist about this newest chapter in her career and the many facets of her creative process.

Congratulations on your residency at the Studio Museum! What has been the most rewarding consequence of practicing your craft in the heart of the historic art and culture hub that is Harlem?

I like being a part of a museum and community that has supported so many important artists that came before me. I feel really engaged by the community and its sense of pride. There is a lot of desire here for people to connect with others—complete strangers—that I find to be really generous.

Your work has been called “contradictory,” with its use of vibrant hues and tones to portray dark and sorrowful moods. Is this an appropriate description of your work and method?

I’m interested in meaningful contradictions, especially the ones that distract us from the truth. I like the way that perhaps Harlem, at a glance, doesn’t provide you with an overt sense of the violence that has occurred here. In The Harlem Ghetto, Baldwin writes, “Harlem wears to the casual observer a casual face.” I think about images that resist, that attempt to retain their secrets or maintain their composure, that put you to work. I feel that way about someone like Billie Holiday: her voice and love versus the content of her life and her music. I hope to make contradictory paintings, works that suggest how dynamic and complex our lives and relationships really are.

Your portraiture work is so rich and laced with life. Tell us a little about your creative process. Is there an interpersonal energy that you attempt to capture a moment or mood that you hope to immortalize in your finished pieces?

I make different types of paintings, but they’re always about retaining a sense of intimacy and sincerity. When someone sits for a painting, typically, it’s not planned, they’ve simply come to the studio to talk or see what I’m working on. The attitude of the works is all about the relationship, and I want it to have authenticity.

How has your sexuality been an influential factor in the evolution of your talent and success?

I can’t really speak for how success or attention is awarded, or how identity is rewarded. It always seems so unpredictable. I think the benefit of spending so much time feeling like an “other” is that it gave me the opportunity to consider challenging the ways images seemed to be put together historically and to really think critically about privilege.

Enjoy a sampling of Jennifer’s artistry below. View more of Jennifer’s work here.

“Carolina” (2011) | oil on linen

“Tobi” (2012) | oil on canvas

“Lost In Translation” (2013) | oil on canvas

- Interview by Tiésha Sadie

ELIXHER contributing editor Tie’sha Sadie is a Brooklyn-bred femme-sin-sation with a pension for radical expression and queer youth empowerment. She is a multi-disciplinary creative simultaneously questing to redefine the parameters of conscious sexuality, facilitate the evolution of brown community, and drop kick all -ism based ignorance. Oh, she can also be found ranting and raving a little over at Sugarfree:ology.