Jihane Mossalim
2nd year, Art Education Specialization

Tin Soldiers
acrylic paint on canvas
24″ x 36″

2015

Jack
10″x 10″

acrylic paint on canvas
2015

Jill
12″ x 12″
oil paint on canvas

2015

For this series, “Strangers,” I am exploring life paths unfamiliar to me. I collect old black-and-white photographs, looking for private histories, secret pasts, private intimacies, unknown memories. From garage sales, antique shops and online stores like e-bay, I look for photographs that are lost, discarded or otherwise forgotten and use them as source material for painting. I love the fact that these faces are completely alien to me; I don’t know these people, yet I am witness to these fragments of their lives, captured on film by a family member, friend or professional photographer. As I respond and react to these faces, my painting feels like it can give them a renewed importance.
I like the photos I find of children, soldiers, group portraits… There is a threat of discipline and an implied obedience in these that feels a little scary. The kids’ images have a melancholic quality to them; and at the same time children are not always as innocent as we imagine—they have a dark side, not always portrayed. I like the structure on view in the soldier’s portraits, the aesthetic of their costume, the contained emotion. These old photographs hint at the fearful extremes of growing up in school or in the army. Reacting to the strangeness of these photographs, I blend images, crop for detail, decontextualize and modify through paint on canvas. In doing so, I hope to give a new relevance to these strangers’ faces.