Statement
These works communicate the complex grief of growing up as a woman in a culture dedicated to stifling authentic emotion and communication. This is especially precarious for those of us who fear abandonment, as it is easy, in our search for love and connection, to get caught in a web of codependency without any means of emotional salvation.

I am interested in creating a space where people with similar trauma can feel witnessed by others as the first step to liberation from this cycle of silence, the facade of isolation. My pieces depict cut-off subjects struggling to escape liminal spaces. When they realize no one is coming to save them, they seek the strength to save themselves.

Bio
Jaina Cipriano is a Boston based artist communicating with the world through photography, film and installation. Her works explore the emotional toll of religious and romantic entrapment.

Jaina creates her photographs in built sets, forgoing digital manipulation because she believes creating something truly immersive starts with the smallest details. A self taught carpenter, she loves a challenge and her larger than life sets draw inspiration from the picture books and cartoons of her childhood.

Jaina writes and directs short films that wrestle with the complicated path of healing. In 2020 she released ‘You Don’t Have to Take Orders from the Moon’, a surrealist horror film wrestling with the gravity of deep codepency. Her second short, ‘Trauma Bond’ is a dreamy coming of age thriller and is planned for a 2022 release.

Working with many local organizations to support and strengthen the community, Jaina was a judge for The Arlington International Film Festival, she dispersed funds for the inter-media portion of the Somerville Arts Council Grant Board, built sets for Arlington Friends of the Drama and served on the board of the New England Sculptors Association. Jaina is also the founder of Finding Bright, a design studio specializing in set building for music videos as well as hosting events that bring the Boston art scene together.

Jaina studied at The New England School of Photography and has been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions around New England.

See the interview with Jaina Cipriano for Optics.

View Jaina Cipriano’s website.