Artist Jane Waggoner Deschner stitches words, emotion and meaning into mid-century and earlier photographs. An exhibition of her work is currently in the University of Wyoming Art Museum.
Within “Face Value,” Deschner aims to shine new light into both the viewers’ interpretation of the photos before them, and their interpretation of their own family photographs—a goal that she accomplishes by utilizing colored stitching forming both words and images on otherwise average photos documenting lives and times in history.
Upon walking into the room exhibiting Deschner’s work, a museum patron is greeted by four walls filled with photographs—primarily portraits of people. The photos are framed and arranged in ways you may see them if they had hung in someone’s home, and it takes a few moments before a viewer is able to read the text woven into the photos.
“I want them to be legible, but I want [viewers] to have to work at it,” Deschner said. Certain choice goes into both choosing the photos as well as the words to be placed upon them, which often come from quotes.
“I probably have 60,000 to 65,000 of other people’s photographs,” said Deschner. “I want all the mundane ones, and to make them interesting.”
Deschner has not always been a professional artist. Her first degree was in geography, awarded by the University of Kansas, but she decided to return to college for art later.
“I went to art school in my 30s and said ‘Well, I’m gonna try this. If not, I’ll have another baby,’”
The origins of what later became her muse of stitching photos came when she was working on her Master’s of Fine Arts at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
“My last semester of school was in Sept. 11, 2001… I made some pieces and didn’t feel better. I asked people to send me a snapshot of something that anchored them. It was awesome—I got all kinds of photos! Ones of dogs, ones of kids, of houses,” Deschner said. “Nothing consumer culture tells you you should want. Then I found I could put messages I wanted to say into them using other peoples’ words.”
Reaction to the exhibit is primarily positive—Madison Pass, a University of Wyoming junior in linguistics, thinks highly of it.
“Fantastic. I grew up seeing family photos and never thought of seeing them like this!”
Pass said viewing “Face Value” is a more intimate process. “At first, the really personal elements aren’t noticed. Getting to come in and see these from a new frame of mind makes it more interesting.”
When asked if she thought it was disrespectful to alter these photos of peoples’ families, Deschner responded with a tinge of uncertainty.
“I try to be respectful. If I didn’t do this, they’d be in a box somewhere or in the dump. I try to give them new life. Repurpose them.”
“Face Value” will be on exhibit until April 25, 2015.
