Jessica Hays
About the Artist
Jessica L Hays is a photographer and curator based in Montana and Chicago, IL. Her intimate work draws on personal experience to communicate ubiquitous human experiences, tackling topics like mental health, trauma, loneliness, and climate change. Grounded in the American west, she explores relationships between people, places, and experiences of being deeply connected to ones surroundings. Her work blurs the lines between the uniquely individual and collective experiences. Hays works in a variety of processes including pigment printing, handmade artist books, and historic photo processes. She has lectured on topics of mental health and alternative process photography at conferences, mental health summits, and as a guest speaker in classrooms. Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and museums, and she has been published in a variety of magazine and textbooks. Born and raised in Montana, Hays has bachelor’s degrees in Photography and Environmental Studies with a minor in Psychology from Montana State University, and is an MFA candidate at Columbia College Chicago. Hays aims to explore the long lasting effects of the land on human psyche from trauma to restoration.
Artist Statement
Loneliness, the kind of alone that happens to us, and solitude, the kind that we choose, are so closely interconnected that it is often hard to tell the difference. When I am driving down the highway, six days into a solo road trip, I never know if I am enjoying solitude or feeling a twinge of loneliness. I think it is like this for most of us, that it is always a little bit of both, like missing home while you are away, but feeling restless once you get there. Empty Memories is an exploration of those moments spent alone, either by choice or circumstance, and how those experiences serve purpose in our lives and shape our perceptions of place and time.