09/06/2019
How Back Stories Add Meaning to Art – Taking a good look at Jennifer Chalklen’s armour and what lies beneath
Being a working mother is hard enough. But when your work is art, things can get a bit tough. “If someone asks you what you do for a living, and you say doctor, lawyer, teacher, they take you at face value. But if you say artist, you just know that they’re wondering, is she any good, does she really have a right to call herself that, or is it just a hobby. As an artist, you constantly find yourself put in the position of justifying your worth from the get-go, in a way that people with other professions don’t have to.” This is Jennifer Chalklen, mother of 3 and figurative painter from New Zealand, now residing in Singapore. She’s weathered her fair share of knocks but it’s only made her resolve stronger and her self-belief fiercer. And anyway, she’s past caring what you think. The process of discovery is what matters, not your opinion. This is what it looks like when grit meets creation.
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