Jana Ghezawi

I make narrative paintings, drawings, sculptures, scripts, games, and experimental performances driven by my interest in self-reflection, psychological behavior, and social practice. My work investigates social interactions within life and games, depictions of public appearance versus internal emotions, and philosophical allegories within vibrant and playful paintings. The imagery in my work portrays familiarity and obscurity as I use coded imagery, comical word play, and abstract colors to depict recognizable forms and symbols within figurative landscapes and portraitures. I am fascinated by ambiguous pictures, perceptions of consciousness, and representational personas within a fictional setting as I am inspired by literature, cartoons, animation, comics, and board games.

The confluence of writing, sculpting, painting, and drawing allows for an active conversation between materiality, message, perception, the audience, and myself. My work explores different readings and interpretations of a painted image by inviting audience members to consider my work as a game of searching and guessing. In this process of social engagement, viewers participate as storytellers, decoding imagery, allegories, and hidden meanings. In comparison to tennis, air hockey, checkers, and many more games that rotate around the back-and-forth motion of players, my work engages in the push and pull of dialogue, conversation, and contemplation to form an engaging plot of discussion and storytelling.