Quantum Mechanics: A Space to Call Home

Jessica O'Lear creates works that project memory into the present-day. Her use of overlayed imagery imbue emotion and memory into place; the in-between space reflects how past experience colors the present space. In "Quantum Mechanics: A Space to Call Home" Jessica is focused on creating a sense of home while residing abroad – combining imagery of Philadelphia and northern Japan. In order to create these pieces and explore the feelings of making another country feel like home, she works with new photos alongside older photos from her time living in Philadelphia. Her photos from Japan come from the things she experiences while exploring her new surroundings. An old building, vacant lot, or a bike left on the sidewalk triggers feelings and memories that remind her of home. She shoots these images and then overlays them with images from Philadelphia. Some photos are intricate layering of several photos from both places to capture that emotional experience of finding something that feels like home in a foreign land. By capturing space and manipulating the image to focus on emotion and memory, she allows for the audience to place themselves in that space. The viewer is able to internalize and digest the emotions to better understanding the reality of what she is going through. She works to emphasize and tell the story of the human experience by transcending a single snapshot; focusing not only what was seen in the moment, but how it felt and what it reminded her of