"Cultivate" - Emmily Scumaci & Jenna Zeise
Exhibition Statement:
Cultivate is the Bradley University Photography Senior Capstone Exhibition showcasing work from artists Emmily Scumaci and Jenna Zeise. This exhibition is the culmination of the students’ time in the Photography Concentration Major where they meticulously researched, photographed, printed, and framed the series presented in this show.
Scumaci’s Hidden Hands shines a light on the underappreciation of blue-collar workers. By photographing her father’s tools, dilapidated structures, and workspaces she showcases these laborers’ deteriorating work conditions as a result of industrialization. Zeise’s Reaped Abundance examines the legislative and societal censorship of the female body, reproduction, and menstruation, through use of allegorical objects such as fruits. To visually convey the censorship, she uses the digital manipulation technique of pixelation to control what sections we are forbidden to look at.
Both artists utilize still life compositions in their series, an ode to historical paintings while modernizing them through precision with studio lighting and crisp, digital photography. Scumaci’s regally lit tools elevate the worn and undervalued labor that helps build society, while Zeise’s images of fruits draw us in with their enticing vibrance and luminosity before we are confronted with their censorship, leaving us to question why something so natural would be hidden from view.
Please enjoy how the Bradley University Photography Seniors use the medium of photography to highlight the devalued and concealed parts of everyday life and labor.
The opening reception for this exhibition will be May 2nd, 5-8:00 p.m.
The work will be on view May 2, 2025 – May 30, 2025
Gallery events are always free and open to the public.