Jenna Westra

JENNA WESTRA (*1986, Grand Rapids, MI) is a New York based artist working with photography and film. Her work focuses on images of the female body, creating a safe visual space that transforms seemingly accidental or chance movements into intentional, choreographed actions for the camera. Taking aesthetic cues from performance documentation and postmodern dance, she invites the viewer to re-examine their role in the dynamics of image production and consumption. 

Her work has exhibited widely, with recent solo shows and screenings at Junzō Yoshimura House, Atami (JP), SCHWARZ CONTEMPORARY, Berlin, Fahrenheit Madrid, Anthony Greaney, Boston, and Lubov, New York. Notable group shows include Gallery 12.26, Dallas & Los Angeles (2023/2024), Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York (2023), lokal_30, Warsaw, PL (2022), STUDIO 4 BERLIN, European Month of Photography, Berlin (2020), The Court, Pescara, IT (2019) and L21, Mallorca, ES (2019). She has been awarded residencies at Hercules Art Studio Program, New York and L21 x Fundación Camper Curatorial and Artist Residency, Mallorca. Her work has been published in various periodicals including Camera Austria, True Photo Journal, SSAW, Middleplane and others. Hassla published two monographs by the artist, titled Afternoons (2020) and Atlas (2018). Her exhibitions have been reviewed in Aperture, The New Yorker, The New York Times, i-D, AnOther, Boston Globe, The British Journal of Photography, Paper Journal, Berlin Art Link, Der Tagesspiegel, and others. She received her MFA from Hunter College in 2015.