Jackelin Solorio

Jackelin Solorio is an agent of visual language. Each photo, each ceramic, each video performance that emerge from her studio are a question and a dare.

Written by Esther Young Photography by Peter Salcido

Come closer. Try not to look away. Be confronted, be comforted, hold the question that has arisen between two bodies.

Artists are revered for their emotional vulnerability. Solorio takes it a step further as her chapters evolve from form to form: the outpour of feeling into a journal instigates a ceramic that holds its weight; the finished ceramic asks to be casted into a story; the performance ties all the messages together. By working in different dimensions, Solorio layers the weaknesses of one medium under the strengths of another.

In 2020, Solorio published a performance titled Fruit of Knowledge. In the video, she stands alone in a cage. Naked and blindfolded by choice, she has invited her own body to join her mind in exploring a question together: What if Eve’s choice to eat the fruit was favorable? Above the cage hangs an apple—the symbol of freedom, awareness. At the sixth hour of performance, Solorio reaches up and eats of the forbidden fruit.

What an audience perceives can spark a beautiful exchange of prompt and perception. And yet, what the audience rarely sees is the labor for the art to exist. For her seven-minute video, Solorio received three days of migraines from dehydration and exhaustion. Yet, when the time comes to channel another question through performance, Solorio will gladly do it again. “I don’t feel protected while doing my work,” she shares. “I get stronger from doing it.”

She is driven by the intrigue of self-discovery. Strength grows through the pain of shedding the social constructs pressed upon us since birth. In another performance created during the pandemic, Perpetual Cycle, Solorio filmed herself again. The video shows her running—which, true to life, is a practice she keeps six days of the week. The following scene shows her eating, but chewing away at excessive amounts of food. Then, a toilet: Jackelin heaves and

“The Cage, Eve, and the Apple” Etching on ceramic slab, 6.5”x11” “Jesus(a) Christ(a)” Etching on proceliam, 18”x7.5”

“Fruit of Knowledge cage” Ceramic cage, 66”x26”

“No Bra No Problem” Ceramic bra used in performance video

“The POPE(A)”

“The Metaphor” performance video

“I lack a social filter sometimes; I don’t want to be contained. I want to be childlike and free.”

–Jackelin Solorio

vomits orange liquid into the bowl. At long last, she stands, sucks in her stomach and smiles at the mirror.

The idea for this performance came during a run: “I asked myself, ‘Why am I running so much? Am I addicted to it?’ ” After all, when she started running at 13, her goal had been to lose weight, pressured by unrealistic expectations. Though her daily run evolved into a life-giving ritual, she continues to hold herself accountable through her art. “This came from a real space,” Solorio emphasizes. “I really did binge. It was hard, but necessary.”

Solorio challenges the male gaze and the patriarchal arm of religion in her physical art forms as well. The body, bare under the gaze of other eyes, speaks of attraction as much as it does repulsion. Sculptures of clay and human hair, such as Solorio’s ceramic vagina collection, are as wondrous as they are shocking. In a recent series, a photo documentation of The Last Supper creates an alternate history: The female body, recast as the pope or as Jesus Christ herself, reminds us all to ask why. Why are things the way they are, and what keeps them that way? “I researched,” Solorio says. “I found that a woman could be pope, but the current pope needs to declare it. And no one will go against tradition.”

What once protected now provokes. Solorio was about six or seven, living with her grandmother in Mexico, when she was first punished by gender tradition. Her grandmother chastised her for playing on the soccer field—a place for boys and men, not girls— and sent her to her room. There, she kneeled and prayed to the Virgin Mary and Jesus while her grandmother disciplined her. “She left some welts. Then I had to go to catechism school.” Solorio went, but she purposefully donned a pair of booty shorts that revealed the marks.

Before arriving fully in her role as artist, Solorio taught preschool for 10 years and served as a preschool director for five. Currently, she is a caregiver of three girls under five years old. “I give it my all. Being around children so much, you can become like them,” she laughs. “I lack a social filter sometimes; I don’t want to be contained. I want to be childlike and free.”

The common threads of playfulness and honesty are woven through all her endeavors, especially her artmaking. Solorio rejects a strictly linear approach to self-reflection. “I’m always connecting to my old self,” she says. “We’re all intertwined.” The first version of herself, the dreamer, holds hands with the pessimist born in hindsight. “My very first love was murdered, and I was trying to find this lost love,” she shares. “Looking into the past...I grew up very poor. With not a lot of great male figures in my life. You start thinking about all the bad things, you know?”

But she has also opened herself to hope, which frames her defiant spirit. “I’m in a good state of life where I know myself,” she smiles, “And I will not stay quiet now.” C

SJSU SJSU

PHOTO 123 PHOTO 123

Written by Jonathan Fung

San JoSe State UniverSity ’ S photo illUStration coUrSe, taught by Professor Jonathan Fung, includes a fashion editorial photography assignment. The assignment introduces students to editorial techniques using digital and film cameras, studio and location lighting, and digital image processing to create a strong mood and tone when showcasing clothing and accessories. Students learn about the fashion industry and styles from top fashion photographers, makeup and hair artists, and stylists.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this course was taught online during the spring 2021 semester. Professor Fung challenged his students to take risks and be creative with their fashion assignment. Students stepped out of their comfort zones while adhering to safety protocols and physical distancing. Professional cameras were replaced with the students’ own equipment, studios were makeshift home studios and backyards, and friends and family members (even students) became models.

This was a great opportunity for SJSU students to have their fashion editorial image published in Content Magazine. Not only did they learn how to become better professionals and deliver quality work on a deadline, they found their resilience as artists to create despite (or in response to) challenging life circumstances.

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Photographers

.1 Matt Langford is a model and fashion photographer based in Los Angeles who works with film and digital. He wants to further develop his film photography skills as he approaches graduation in the fall of 2021. Instagram: mjh.langford

.2 Armando Austin is a Bay Area photographer, stylist, and visual designer. His work explores multiple gender identities through high fashion photography. Instagram: iiits_a_rap

.3 Yujung Lee is a graphic designer and illustrator. Her personal style emanates simplicity and minimalism and expresses that less is more. Linkedin: yujunglee4545

.4 Yvonne Bellido works in the Bay Area and has experience in digital and film photography. She will graduate in the fall of ’21 with a BFA in film and photography. She hopes to pursue a career in fashion photography. Instagram: yvonnebellido

.5 Daren Chou is a contemporary photographer who combines his artistic skill set with a sense of humor, allowing him to express contemporary issues through innovative methods. Instagram: daren_zyr13

.6 Alyssa Karlin is a Bay Area–based photographer. She is currently pursuing a BFA in photography at SJSU with plans to graduate in 2022. Instagram: karlin.photos

.7 Zack (Biu) Lam is a model and photographer in the Bay Area. He works in portraiture, videography, and commercial art. He will graduate in the fall of 2021. Instagram: Zackl.b

.8 Brianna Felix is a photography student at SJSU. They are an LGBTQ+ and POC photographer who represents their communities in their photos. Instagram: goddess.pictures

.9 Willow Ransom is a California-based fashion photographer who recently graduated from San Jose State University with a BFA in photography. Instagram: willowransom.photography .10 Haleigh Bei will graduate in the fall of ’21 with a BFA in photography. She has found her passion in sports photography and will pursue a career in this field. Instagram: bei_photography_

.11 Eilaria Maryousef is a senior at SJSU who applies a mixture of visual and fine arts in her work that showcases versatility and variety. She is pursuing a degree in graphic design. Instagram: eilariam

.12 Edgar Mendoza is an artist who recently graduated from SJSU with a degree in art design studies. Instagram: emendxza

.13 Mikayla Crisafulli is a junior at San Jose State studying graphic design. She combines photography with graphic design to create illustrations. Instagram: m_c_graphicdesign

.14 LJ Maravillas is an artist works in multiple digital mediums such as photography, painting, 3D modeling, and animation. He is majoring in graphic design. Instagram: ljmarvelous

.15 Ivete Pereira is a Brazilian graphic design student with a minimalistic approach. Ivete believes that design needs to focus on what is essential. Instagram: iivetepereira

.16 Reyn Padilla is a graphic designer and illustrator from the Bay Area who graduated from SJSU in Spring 2021. Instagram: rendilla

.17 Shannon Gonzalez is a Bay Area–based artist whose work focuses on their personal headspace. Since 2018, they have concentrated on the concept of identity. Instagram: classicallyunusual

.18 Hang Huynh is a contemporary artist who creates sculptures and oil paintings. She is pursuing a BFA degree in spatial art with a minor in photography. Instagram: hang_k_huynh