©Jesse Ly, what does the willow bring? My late father understood the presence of a willow tree to attract spirits of the passed. Now the daunting presence of a strong willow cannot be removed from this context for me. They make me wonder if he is present.

Jesse Ly is an Asian-American photographic and image-based artist. They hold a BFA from the University of Cincinnati’s college of DAAP. They currently are the Graphic Design and Photography Media Facilities Coordinator at the University of Dayton. They have exhibited work both nationally across the US and internationally. They have had solo exhibitions at spaces including Filter Space – Chicago, IL, RoyGBiv Gallery –  Columbus, OH, Foster Gallery – Dedham, MA, and Gallery Photoland – Olympia, WA. As well had notable group exhibitions at spaces such as The Contemporary Arts Center – Cincinnati, OH, FotoFilmic – Vancouver, BC, and The PH Museum – Bologna, Italy among others. They have been a recipient of an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, a Regional Artist Renewal Grant via the National Endowment for the Arts, and was named a finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2023.

Follow Jesse on Instagram: @jessely

©Jesse Ly, brothers the grace and space to lean on those close.

try, take time – take time, try

try, take time – take time, try is a body of developing works compiling photographic approaches concerned with the dualities of care and labor. Through considerations of balancing both tenderness and the rigidity and rage needed to cause change manifests via pictorial sequencing and referential iconography. The works make time for concerns related to setting affirmations, safe keeping, protection, and preparedness – assigning and attributing value through the representations, symbols, moments captured and held close.

One’s field of view exists and transcends multitudes – blending degrees of needed softness and conviction. Encapsulating this disparateness delves into the functionality of these simultaneously differing but similar emotions and approaches. The work calls upon these methods of making to look into how one can harness the needed firmness to create direction with the leniency and care needed to hold space for compassion.

©Jesse Ly, a memory not forgotten my mother tells a story of finding a rotted apple under my childhood bed when I was young . a story that persists and holds weight to this day. how this memory has been projected on to me and shaped both the perceptions of me, as well the way I move forward to adjust and take note of how I operate, the markers I leave behind, and how I am perceived.

I utilize photographic approaches and incorporates processes of sculpture, bookmaking, assemblage and writing to inform and expand imagery. My work navigates identity structures through representation, observation and comprehension by considering the transitional qualities of existence found within imagery and their adornments. This mode of looking examines how photographic depictions incite differentiation in presence and portrayal through presented context and actuality.

These concerns surface typically via self-analyzation, fixating on how I, those that I have immediate discursive relationships with, my inhabited spaces, and objects of interaction exists through, with, and as photographic imagery. This is done to further dialogs of relationships of image-making, existence, and conceptual formulations through the sequencing, intervening, and examination of their compositions. This allots for a further inquiry of physical, ambiguous and psychological spaces to become re-contextualized through the perceptions, futilities, liminal spaces, and notions imagery creates.

This merging of needs for natures that are both adversarial and of softness compiles a look into aspirations and ideals as well as the matters and motives needed to maintain them. How do we reckon with out histories and experiences to use them to move forward to shape, change, and grow for the better.

©Jesse Ly, fleeting moments How do we exist with the ephemeral, – the temporary? To burn bright and together, if only for a moment, if even an instant – but hopefully for as long as we can.

©Jesse Ly, have in one’s hand To hold, to care for, to sit with. Allow tenderness to crawl amongst us.

©Jesse Ly, held in time, place, and space what do we hold on to from the past to move forwards? a skeleton of the former framework.

©Jesse Ly, – hidden in plain sight (dear/deer) how do we show through in amidst the layers, nuance, and embellished?

©Jesse Ly, I think it’s nice to wait Only in an instant can we we be graced with this quality of light. Bask in it while it is present and hold that moment while you can.

©Jesse Ly, keeping defense holding our own how and when we can.

©Jesse Ly, latent traces We are our own index. The traces of us are filled with multitudes – care, concern, sorrow, rage. we must track this existence when we can and ground ourselves in our own realities. How do we leave these marks?

©Jesse Ly, reach & harness utilize, manifest and harness to prosper when needed.

©Jesse Ly, reap what you sow Reckon with your decisions and convictions. You must stand with your actions and lie with resolve.

©Jesse Ly, resident (swallows) Shaping a place to be a place to sit, a place to rest, a place to be one with ourselves and the ones we care for. Swallows are monogamous birds. They make mud nests for them and their partners. To build a home for the notion of togetherness.

©Jesse Ly, set light to change A transition and notation of impermanence. allow us to burn what no longer serves us and start anew where we can.

©Jesse Ly, shatter view we must reshape what no longer serves us. shatter what what lies before us to shape anew.

©Jesse Ly, Exhibition View

Epiphany Knedler is an interdisciplinary artist + educator exploring the ways we engage with history. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Political Science and completed her MFA in Studio Art at East Carolina University. She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota, serving as an Assistant Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at Northern State University, a Content Editor with LENSCRATCH, and the co-founder and curator of the art collective Midwest Nice Art. Her work has been exhibited in the New York Times, the Guardian, Vermont Center for Photography, Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, and awarded through Lensculture, the Lucie Foundation, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass.

Follow Epiphany on Instagram: @epiphanysk