Jocelyn Nevel

From the outset I want to create work that has an aesthetic paradox as its core, something that could be considered both public and private, as well as both beautiful and repulsive. —Jocelyn Nevel

Since 1993, Jocelyn Nevel has collected items ranging from used teabags to dryer lint for use in her sculpture and photographs. In the untitled pictures from Hair 35, Nevel takes direct scans of hair using Imacon scanners in place of a camera. With no existing negative, her images nevertheless document moments in time with many possible reproductions. Translated in the 0s and 1s of binary code, Nevel's work toys with the concept of photographic representation, manipulating the colors and focus of the works post-scanning to translate a one-of-a-kind photogram into an image that can be infinitely reproduced in an identical fashion. Her photographs from the series Hair 35 includes clusters of hair, indicating a "disembodied sensuality" that references Buddha's warning to monks that hair embodies sensual desire.

Currently an associate professor at the University of New Mexico, Jocelyn Nevel was educated at Ohio State University (BA, 1988) and Columbia College Chicago (MFA, 1995). Her solo exhibitions include the University of New Mexico; the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Grand Rapids, MI; and the Tjaden Art Gallery at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Group exhibitions include shows at the Flatfile Gallery, Chicago; the NIU Art Gallery, DeKalb, IL; and the Photo-Eye Gallery in Santa Fe, NM. In 1999, ESPN Zone commissioned her to create a White Sox Quilt. Nevel has been awarded grants from both the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and The College of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico. Nevel also serves as the Online Gallery Curator for the Center for American Places.

Text © Museum of Contemporary Photography, 2018