Winter Formal, from the School of the Art Institute Chicago 2007 MFA porftolio

About the Photographer

Frank, Jill

American, b. 1978

Jill Frank created “Winter Formal” as part of her “Psychodrama” series, in which Frank reenacted traumatic, embarrassing, or humiliating moments in her subjects’ personal histories to document on camera. After realizing that family photographs often did not match her memories, Frank desired to represent important experiences that were not previously recorded. The resulting photographs are documentation of performances attempting catharsis through reenactment, allowing photography to inhabit and influence remembered experiences where it was previously absent. In Frank’s words, “Psychodrama really [came] to be about memory, personal experiences and where they lacked documentation. It was also about making those memories accurate for the participant, making this person feel that in their history of visual images some of their most important experiences are visually represented.”

Jill Frank completed a BA at Bard College, NY (2001), and an MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008). Her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, including solo exhibitions in Chicago at Contemporary Art Workshop, GOLDEN, and 12 x 12: New Artists/New Work at the Museum of Contemporary Art. She is the recipient of several grants and fellowships, including a City of Chicago Community Arts Assistance Program Grant (2010); Ox-Bow Artist-in-Residence Fellowship (2010); the Weinstein Memorial Fellowship, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008); and Artist-in-Residence Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center (2004). Frank holds adjunct teaching positions in several schools in the Chicago area, where she lives and works.