BIO
Jennifer Jean Peters is a true artist. She is obsessive, dedicated, passionate and gifted with a rare transparency within her work. She is not afraid to get dirty, to be “ugly” or to delve into the raw experiences and emotions we fear or suppress. It is through these honest, at times disturbing explorations that she sheds light on “closet” issues such as domestic violence, abuse and the marginalized. Her first exhibition at the Little Gallery back in the fall of 2001 highlighted the stigma surrounding the pervasive effects of trauma. The artist plastered a series of fridge doors with graphic poetry and Polaroid images documenting injuries painted onto her body as a visual protest. She then proceeded to render a series of portraits on a large-scale rug, depicting ‘unacceptable’ emotions such as anger/grief and cast it onto the gallery floor. Viewers were invited to walk all over the drawings, in keeping with the unwritten vow of silence within shame-filled families.
“Our stories arise from our hearts and souls. In this sense, telling our stories becomes a sacred gesture, opening a clear way to that deep, ecstatic center where we are most uniquely ourselves, individual and unique, and yet are ourselves, joined together at the heart.”
Susan Wittig Albert
Since this predominantly black inception, Jennifer’s work has undergone a steady progression from the darkness of deep-seated grief to an abiding joy as a single mother to her five children. The striking contrast between Jennifer’s vivacious energy and the raw violence within her work takes root in a history of generational trauma. Giving voice to this legacy within her work is how she has been able to reconcile the darker facets of her narrative.
Jennifer’s professional trajectory had a promising debut, culminating in her first international exhibition back in the year 2018 alongside eleven other female artists from across North and South America. Jennifer was also sought out and completed a collaboration with internationally renowned Spanish artist Eloy Morales.
However, this rapid rise came to a grinding halt on July 2nd, 2018, when the artist’s son, Anthony Osprey, died suddenly while nursing in the woods on a camping trip.
Jennifer maintained a studio practice, but chose to step back from tackling publicly exhibiting her work for a number of years in order to grieve and care for her four remaining children.
My son Anthony Osprey died suddenly while I was nursing him in the woods near Castle River Bridge. He died on July second, 2018. His body went still, His face turned white and it was all over in a moment, a single trickle of blood streaming slowly out of his right nostril. My darling boy died right there in the woods and no amount of resuscitation would bring him back. As a mother, I was forced to make the agonizing call to halt the effort to save my boy, who had by that point been without oxygen for approximately forty five minutes. Putting down his lifeless body was not possible; I rocked him back and forth and back and forth and back and forth, seeking to quell the shrieking storm within my chest, to comfort the baby that was no longer there. He was so innocent, so beautiful, so precious - I suppose it is only fitting that my Jesus called him home, but my soul still screamed blood on that day.
‘Black’ is my way of honoring the pain of that experience; initially captured by the artist for a show on domestic violence, she then chose to keep the piece and render it fully in thick layers of paint on the canvas in her grief. It is a mother’s primal scream, a cry for help and the face of all that came before. There is life beyond child loss; there is hope for those who suffer, but the only way through the pain is through the pain.
Following the sudden death of my boy, I became obsessed with realizing an image of a naked figure curled up within a giant nest. I knew that realizing the image was how I would intentionally grieve the loss of my son. As a single mother to my other three children on a full-time basis; I knew I needed to carve in space to wrestle through his loss. Amassing, transporting and wrestling with the trunks were essential.”
Jennifer Peters
Upon completing the nest; the sculpture was large enough to fit five adults and a ladder was necessary to climb into its center. The artist painted her body black, climbed into the nest and achieved her image solo using a camera duct-taped to a metal pole. When she was ready, she burned the nest and spread the ashes over her womb. The artist then captured a second image within her studio by situating herself in the sunlight and rendering her torso in white paint. Jennifer then translated the initial image onto the canvas. ‘Agape” was then publicly released and sold at the artist’s comeback solo exhibition at ‘the Haus of Spanic Arts’ in the spring of 2024. She currently resides in the suburbs of Calgary, Alberta, along with her brood of animals and children. Following this public launch, the artist’s thriving studio practice expanded to include access to a studio space and landscape in Foothills County, Alberta. Regular access to this landscape, rich with history, curiosity and wilds has utterly transformed this artist’s trajectory.
