Janeil Lentz’s Short form
Janeil Lentz is a photographer and digital artist based in Calgary, Alberta, and is a member of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. For the Pride In Art event, Janeil is exhibiting a series she calls Short form that features distorted and boldly lit female forms. We caught up with Janeil to learn more about what draws her to the female form and the message she invites viewers to take away.
Pride In Business: How has your identity influenced your approach to art and your work?
Janeil Lentz: Photographer and Digital Artist
Janeil Lentz: My identity as a woman influences my work in my choice of subject matter, as the female body has always interested me and, at the same time, has made me feel uncomfortable in many situations. Specifically, feeling disconnected from societal expectations around female beauty and media representation, and how that differs from my own body and body image.
PIB: What inspired you to pursue a career as an artist?
JL: I have always been an artist but have struggled to break through to art as a full-time career. I am at the point in my life where I want to dedicate more to being an artist.
PIB: What inspires you to create work in a mixture of photography and digital mediums?
JL: The two mediums are now so interconnected with digital photography that the line between the two is blurred. The use of digital mediums allows for more freedom to add to and subtract from a photo and allows for more expression that can't be captured in a photograph.
PIB: Do you work in other mediums? If so, what made you choose these three works present at the show?
JL: I work mainly digital these days, but I still love to draw and paint and create with my hands. Honestly, my digital work is so much more polished and professional, which is why I chose this medium to exhibit.
PIB: The series that you’re exhibiting in the show, Short Form, turns the viewer's gaze on tightly contorted female forms, lit dramatically in high contrast black and white. Can you tell us what inspired the subject matter for this work?
JL: The subject matter is an outward expression of how I feel as a woman looking at images of what society thinks is beautiful and how I feel my own body distorted against that standard.
PIB: There’s a sense of being closed out or views obstructed in the use of lighting and the poses – many that appear unnatural or uncomfortable – the model holds; what was the intent behind obscuring the model’s form?
JL: I wanted to create a feeling of discomfort for the viewer, to feel the distortion of the forms and to feel like the models are hiding something from them. A juxtaposition of bearing it all and still being somewhat modest. It is the constant battle that society places on women to show their bodies, to be alluring but not giving it all away and being too sexual.
PIB: What do you hope audiences take away when experiencing your work?
JL: I hope that the audience feels the sense of discomfort and see themselves in the images and feelings to come away with a sense of connection with the work and me as a person.
PIB: You note that your work invites viewers to question the boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. Are there particular digital spaces or forums that you are critiquing? What inspired you to examine these spaces?
JL: This is a direct reference to social media and how celebrities and influencers manipulate their images to present a false image of beauty and the damage it causes viewers. Online spaces allow for a distorted ideal, and we all suffer from the comparisons this creates in real life.
Website: janeillentz.com
To see Janeil’s work and the work of other featured artists, get your tickets for the Pride In Art event on May 26, 2023 here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fraser Tripp
PIB — Managing Editor
Pride In Business article in partnership with TD.
By Fraser Tripp