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Artworks
Jennifer Ling Datchuk American, b. 1980
Ripening, 2025Digital photograph, wood shelf, porcelain figurine. Made in collaboration with Ocean Ling TakabaFramed photograph: 13.5 x 20 in.
Wood shelf with porcelain figurine: 3 x 5 x 2.5 inEdition of 8Further images
'Ripening' and 'Becoming' are inspired by an anatomical Venus sculpture from mainland China, reclined on a bench. Made from bone and mahogany, the figurine is believed to have been used..."Ripening" and "Becoming" are inspired by an anatomical Venus sculpture from mainland China, reclined on a bench. Made from bone and mahogany, the figurine is believed to have been used historically by women during medical visits with male doctors, allowing them to indicate areas of pain while maintaining modesty. In these works, Datchuk transforms that history into a meditation on dualities. Her pregnant body reclines on an enlarged replica of the bench, her scarred skin forming a fertile landscape. Postpartum, she shares the bench with her baby, hovering as she nurses. No matter what women attempt to reclaim, they still move between choices dictated by narratives they did not create. Ripening and Becoming. Pregnancy and postpartum. Fertility and infertility. Personal and political. Private and public. Childless and childfree. Mother.Exhibitions
Jennifer Ling Datchuk and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: In Our Hands, Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio, TX, 2026
Photo-Role-Playing, Northlight Gallery & Step Gallery, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ; curator: Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, 2026
Ripening, New Mexico State University Art Museum, Las Cruces, NM; curator: Marisa Sage, 2025-61of 2
