Jamie Zimchek
Northwest Florida
Artist Statement
Much of my recent work has centered on a consideration of the storylines used by controlling power systems as a means of manipulation. Often absurd, sometimes frightening, these false narratives - imagined truths - come in a variety of forms and serve to enforce the separation between us and Other. Often, these are so deeply entrenched in childhood that we don’t even realize they’re there. Underlying my practice is an interest in these storylines as they’re used to maintain control in intimate, domestic settings, but also in more public, political ones. As part of this focus, I'm particularly fascinated by the tension between good and not-good as a societal construct. In this work, I examine how a series of connections - the way fidgeting in school becomes a disruption, then a punishable offence, and ultimately a personal failing - creates a controlling storyline that ultimately reframes biological wiring as a moral deficiency.
While exploring these ideas in the studio, I mix more traditional materials and techniques in less conventional ways, swinging from handworked bronze and oil paint to textile sculptural forms, papier-mâché and experimental short videos. Frequently, my formal decisions, from color and medium to concept, reference childhood, using scale to create a sense of absurdity. Additional associations with apocalyptic religious ideology and American politics also situate my work in conversation with history and tradition while leaving space to visually explore contemporary culture’s theoretical underpinnings. Taken together with my broad research foundation, this provides a platform for work that finds unexpected, often playful connections between disparate disciplines.
Artist Bio
Jamie Zimchek is a multi-disciplinary artist heavily influenced by her fundamentalist youth and world wandering. Years spent internationally as a freelance writer, photographer, and academic lecturing on topics such as U.S. Foreign Policy and Middle Eastern Conspiracy have further shaped her focus. Much of Zimchek’s recent work has revolved around an exploration of the storylines used by controlling power systems as a means of manipulation. Often absurd, these false narratives and imagined truths enforce the separation between us and Other and are sometimes so deeply entrenched that they’ve been all but forgotten. Underlying her studio practice is a visual consideration of these storylines as they’re used to maintain control across cultures and contexts in intimate, domestic settings, but also in more public, political ones.
In the last year, Zimchek has exhibited in New Hampshire, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Vermont, upstate New York and Florida, with upcoming 2025 shows at The Granite Museum, Florida State University-Panama City and The Camp Gallery in Miami. Recently, her work was featured for the Cultural Art Alliance Billboard Project, and she has shown as part of Atlanta Celebrates Photography, the Seaside Prize, and other assorted exhibits in the U.S. and U.K. She has an MA in Mediterranean Studies from King’s College London and an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Zimchek is co-founder of the l l l Artist Fund and currently based in Northwest Florida, where she is an instructor in the art department at Gulf Coast State College.