in the hole 

we circle

six rotations

to surface

counterclockwise

a swarm

then

a bleed into night

For the exhibition soft earth hard sky, Jessica Harvey holds a mirror to natural sites in the Texas landscape to see some kind of self reflected back in the sinkholes, waterways, and skies at daybreak. Personal texts, sound recordings, images, earth, and daily rituals illuminate gaps in memory and failures in capturing time. These in-between spaces offer an opportunity to see collapse and sickness as a portal in addition to void. 

About Jessica Harvey

Jessica Harvey is an artist and writer whose work explores the fractures of bodies, place, and history. Sifting through public and private archives, she conducts long-term investigations of ruptures within natural, historical, and personal events, paying close attention to the interpretation of facts, which often changes based on the narrator.

Using photography, video, sound, and archival resources, the images and installations Harvey creates look to the psychology that one attaches to memory and place, putting a particular emphasis on the labor of care. She often makes work using intimate aspects of the physical body without revealing the actual human form in its entirety. Bone fragments, human hair, heartbeats, and the sounds of daybreak act as inspiration to illustrate the stories and rituals tied to death and living. Through humor and tragedy, she looks for new ways of re-evaluating life, death, and the mythology of our own history.

Harvey was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Iceland and has attended residencies at ACRE, Ox Bow, The Luminary, Wassaic, MASS MoCA, Anderson Ranch, LATITUDE, Byrdcliffe, and Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been exhibited at Kunsthall Trondheim (Trondheim, NO), The Franklin (Chicago, IL), Coop Gallery (Nashville, TN), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL), Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa, OK), Camayuhs (Atlanta, GA), Heaven Gallery (Chicago, IL), The Luminary (St. Louis, MO), Good Weather (Little Rock, AR), and ACRE Projects (Chicago, IL). She has participated in fellowships with the Winterthur Museum, gener8or Arts, and The Tulsa Center for the Humanities at the University of Tulsa. Her chapbook, “lilies in flame / wax tomb” was published in 2019 with Walls Divide Press.