Photo: Senior Thesis Exhibition 2018 by Luke Wynne.
Senior Thesis Exhibition 2020
Jillian McLuhan
Hometown: Hughesville, Pennsylvania
Major: Studio Art
Website: jillianmcluhan.com
Can I tell you a secret? Would you be comfortable telling me one of your secrets? Perhaps you would be comfortable telling your best friend or partner, or maybe you’d be more comfortable opening up to a complete stranger. My work explores capturing vulnerable moments and feelings that are intensely individual to a person yet widespread among most humans. By exposing my own vulnerability, I invite viewers to let down their guard by creating an environment that challenges their boundaries and how they express themselves. I want the viewer to see parts of themselves in my artwork and feel a call to access how their physical and nonphysical attributes interact with each other and how they interact with others. Introducing a conversation between the body and what is held within it allows me to become a vessel for others to do the same. Giving the viewer my trust establishes a transactional relationship between us. I want the viewer to have a tantalizing feeling of wanting more from me and wanting to give in return. I cover the seduction of keeping and exposing secrets, reveling in the allure of a love interest, and depicting extreme expressions of emotion. I analyze where we derive pleasure from and create art in response. I made several artworks throughout my research using photography, sculpture, and performance as media that subsequently led to art made while living through the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
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