Labatte, Jessica

Jessica Labatte is known for her constructed still-life photographs that explore photographic elements such as light, the use of color, and illusion. In her Almanac for Shade Gardeners series, Labatte created an image for every flower that grew in her garden during one growing season. The flowers are arranged with objects from her home, as a meditation on the passage of time, and to visualize Labatte’s reality as an artist and mother within a domestic space. In Clematis Bubbles, a child’s bubble bottle is placed alongside a clematis plant and fresh sliced citrus fruit. The colors are bright and warm as clematis plants require sunny environments to thrive, and the bottle of bubbles indicate caregiving rituals of play. In this way, Labatte’s photographs serve as a form of self-portrait, as they are constructions made from elements of her own home, environment, and lived experience.

Jessica Labette received her BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute and has been included in exhibitions at the Humble Art Foundation, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the New Art Center, Newtonville, MA; Western Exhibitions, Chicago; and the Hyde Park Art Center, among others. Labatte is Associate Professor of Photography at Norther Illinois University.

Jessica Labatte (American, b. 1981)
Clematis Bubbles, 2017
Archival Pigment Print
14 x 11 inch image on 16 x 13 inch paper
Signed edition of 30