Jessica Ward

Apricot Mantle, Eric Carl

Jessica Ward was born in Agana, Guam in 1982. She grew up around the world because her father was an Air Force officer. She attended Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan and received a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art-Drawing with a minor in Illustration. Jessica’s art work is about eating disorders. She uses mixed media such as graphite, color pencils and water color on paper or archival board. Jessica currently resides in Los Angeles, California with her husband. She had her first gallery show in 2008, and has been exhibiting her art in galleries in California, New York and Florida since then.

“Hair Abjection”

♦Anorexia nervosa has the highest premature fatality rate of any mental illness
♦The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15 �" 24 years old
♦In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia
♦Age at onset of an eating disorder:
♦10% report onset at 10 years or younger
♦33% report onset between ages of 11-15
♦43% report onset between ages of 16-20
♦86% report onset of illness by the age of 20

“It is, at the most basic level, a bundle of contradictions: a desire for power that strips you of all power. A gesture of strength that divests you of all strength.”
- Marya Hornbacher, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia 1998

My current body of work is a series of drawings done in mixed media such as graphite, color pencils, water colors and chalk pastels on archival board or paper. I am addressing the issue of often hidden neuroses of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, compulsive over eating and Body Dysmorphic Disorder. In some of my drawings I explore the start and cause of eating disorders in child hood and it’s long lasting affects through the adult life. I use my own personal experiences with the disorders to flesh out stories in each drawing as well by placing symbols that embellish themes of fetishes with the body. The subjects are abject female figures that are grotesque or incomplete. In these figures I include a sense of body dissatisfaction and thus showing body image coping patterns through sealing or idealizing the body. Hair plays an important role in my work, it is my visual representation of the multidimensional eating disorder. The cat represents a retreat to times before one has incurred negative life changing experiences. They are viewed as an escape for their simple lifestyle. They are often observing and appear to be loyal and non judgmental companions. In allot of my work I draw on pastel or kitsch colors this is a reference to childhood and innocence. I often use pink because pink encourages action, motion, courage and passion. Pink is viewed as gentle and appropriate color for healing and can be used to relieve depression. I use these colors for their comfort or warmth in juztaposition to disturbing subject matter or imagery. The use of patterns literally mean patterns that eating disordered individuals often take on in their manic routines. Another symbol are the spirals, downward spirals often trapping the figures into a cycle one feels as if they cannot escape from. Forced to repeat the same self destructive acts over and over again. My work is an intended catharsis for the viewer, evoking overwhelming feelings, resulting in restoration and renewal in oneself.