Diana Nicholette Jeon one of the 2018 Rfotofolio Selections. Her work was chosen in the Three -dimensional category. We are pleased to share her work.
Would you please tell us a little about yourself?
I was born in MA, lived and worked in CA, and moved to HI in 1995. There I met my husband, got married, had a child and went to school, all at the same time. We went to Baltimore for me to attend an MFA program at UMBC, and then returned to HI, where I taught college courses in digital media (still and motion) until May 2013. Since that time, I have been working full-time at my art. I love to cook and bake, I love the ocean, and I love Hawaii.
Where did you get your photographic training?
I always took photos, since I was a kid, but my training was during college at UC Berkeley and UMBC.
Why do you create?
Because I have to. It is integral to who I am as a person.
Who has had an influence on your creative process?
Some were faculty, some were artists I will likely never meet or are deceased, some are people I know, and some are electronic. In alphabetical order: Diyan Achjadi, Basqiat, Douglas Beasley, Elmer Bischoff, Joan Brown, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Gaye Chan, Irene Chan, K.K. DePaul, Richard Diebenkorn, Facebook, Sally French, Jennifer Georgescu, Ann Hamilton, Instagram, Sally Mann, Jan McWilliams, Sara Moon, Arthur Neelander, Manuel Neri, Tim Nohe, Kathy O’Dell, Nathan Olivera, David Park, Chris Peregoy, Justin Plakas, Jon Pule, Holly Roberts, Marc Rothko, Aline Smithson, Mark Street, Cala Thompson, Laura Valenti, Lewis Watts, and Francesca Woodman.
Please tell us about an image (not your own) that has stayed with you over time.
Recently I metJennifer Georgescu. We met at Medium in Oct. 2018. After seeing her work, this image has haunted me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that she makes work about her experience of motherhood, and that is something I worked with myself when my son was much younger, so it just really resonates for me.
What image of yours would you say taught you an important lesson?
All the work I let people see has taught me something, one way or another. Every image brings some new realization with it. I don’t think I can pick only one. I will say that recently, works from my Legally Blind series taught me that I can touch the hearts of people who are afflicted with or know people who are afflicted with this disability. I made it because my mother was legally blind, and as someone whose work is entirely dependent on my eyesight, it is something I continually think about. So I will choose and image from that. This is Chun’s Reef (North Shore, Oahu) 1:20 pm 8.16.13.
What makes a good day for you, creatively speaking?
A day where I feel a sense of accomplishment on whatever project I am doing.
If you could spend a day with any other photographer or artist living or passed who would it be?
Ann Hamilton
The photographic community is my tribe; its people are of utmost importance to me, and I value them immensely.
What equipment have you found essential in the making of your work?
Various iPhones, my iPad mini and iPad Pro, my MacBook Pro, Photoshop, my Epson P800, a variety of papers, both coated and uncoated, and encaustic and cold wax.
Is there something in photography that you would like to try in the future?
So many things! But right now, I would love to learn Gum Bichromate.
Whats on the horizon?
I’m continuing to work with several of my current series, including Legally Blind, Nights As Inexorable As The Sea, and Self-Exposure. But the immediate future is a trip to the Big Island for Douglas Beasley’s Images of Gratitude Workshop. I don’t know what will come out of that for me, but I am anxiously awaiting see what does.
Thank you Diana
To learn more about the work of Diana Nicholette Jeon please visit her site at Diana Nicholette Jeon .
