Instagram Takeover – Jenna Westra

In what looks like some strange ritual a woman lies back and drinks the juice of a lemon being squeezed into her mouth by unseen man while another man holds over her a bouquet of leaves.

Looking at Jenna Westra’s photographs you can’t help but question what you are seeing. Her subjects’ bodies are twisted, reflected, and abstracted, yet they retain a sense of intimacy. Are you a voyeur peeking into the private space of the studio, catching a glimpse of models behind the scenes, or have all these pictures been staged for you?

Born in 1986, Westra lives and works in New York. She received her MFA from Hunter College in 2015 and now teaches photography at the Parsons School for Design. Her work has been shown internationally with exhibitions in Berlin, Zurich, Los Angeles and New York. Her first book, Atlas, was published by Hassla in 2018 and presented at NADA New York. She will be presenting solo exhibitions at Schwarz Contemporary, Berlin and Fahrenheit, Madrid in September 2019.

Jenna Westra is taking over @paperjournalmag from today until 24 June. You can follow her @jjennawestraa and see more of her work at www.jennawestra.com.

  • A woman's hand pinches the sheer tights covering her glowing white thigh.
  • A shirtless person stood in a photography studio takes a moment to bend down and adjust their sock.
  • Three people sit above, around, and underneath a table, their colourful jumpers contrasting with each other, their three bodies forming an almost abstract composition.
  • A person rests on the old, metal fire escape of a urban high-rise. Their long pale legs are bare and pressing against the cool metal. But something's off with the scene, nothing seems to match up. The razor thin line of discontinuity reveals this is a reflection in a mirror.
  • A foreshortened hand is extended out towards the camera, another anonymous hand holds their elbow. In the gap between arm and body is the eye of a person, otherwise hidden.