Jenn Reidel

Island artist Jenn Reidel says that her VAA art auction commissioned photograph, “The Truth,” is about her personal transformation and lifting herself out of a long depression.

It’s an image of Reidel herself, sitting naked with her back to the camera as her body is framed by two massive wood columns. The photograph is part of a series called “The Desk” that will be shown at Gallery 070 in September.

Reidel says another Island photographer, Mike Urban, found the columns for her. “There was a lot of synchronicity in this piece,” Reidel said. “Every time I wanted a prop, it would show up.”

The feeling of something uncanny happening in Reidel’s artistic process arose again when she was working on another image in the series. “Keeper of Secrets” shows Reidel facing the camera, dressed in what looks like a sleeping gown with wide sleeves which she uses to hide her face. From one of her hands hangs a set of ancient looking keys.

She worked on the photo for days, until she found herself having a bodily memory of something horrible that had happened to her. She still doesn’t know what that experience was, but she remembered the moment came as a release from long psychic pain.

“It was strange,” Reidel said. “My body remembered, but my mind did not. I suppose this depression I had was a result of a disconnection with self that at the time saved me long ago. By doing this work I reconnected with my soul, and the power of that shook my core.”

“I have read that the chemistry of the body changes as a result of artistic expression and reflection,” Reidel said. “Now, more than ever, I am a convert to the therapeutic power of art.”