Exhibitions
Jennifer Brommer: Selections from Memphis and The Wechslers
February 20–March 15, 2020
Artist's Reception: Saturday February 22, 6-8pm Facebook
jenniferbrommer.com
Jennifer Brommer is a fine art photographer currently living and working in Portland, OR. She received her MFA from San Francisco Art Institute and her BFA from School of Visual Arts in New York City. Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Museum, The San Francisco Foundation, and Anthology Film Archives among others.
About Memphis, Brommer writes: Growing up between two parents, one in New York City and the other in Memphis, I moved back and forth from my mother’s world of seedy and gloomy hotels—The Chelsea among them—to my grandmother’s world of country clubs, maids, and chauffeurs. The project Memphis developed when I explored my discomfort in the world of my grandmother. I became intrigued with the importance my Memphis family placed on projecting wealth and social grace. Their notion that home, car, and appearance are of the utmost significance drew me to photograph people in their homes with special attention made to their choices of personal objects. What emerges, in part, is a glimpse into race and class in a particular time, place, and family. About The Wechslers, Brommer writes: The Wechslers project originated when I discovered a listing for “Wechslers,” my maternal ancestors, in the registry of the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I realized I had only the vaguest understanding of my family’s immigrant experience. I imagined—and then photographed—a Jewish family from the late 19th century with all members played by myself. If I inhabited these figures, would I feel closer to my immigrant history? Perhaps. Family portraits can be familiar while strangely remote. |