Jane Feely is a lens-based, visual artist originally from South Wales. While she now calls Lake County, IL home, her connection to family, and the land of her birth, is a major influence on her photography. Through her work, Jane explores themes of aging, the disintegration of memory, the ties that bind us to our roots and perception of self. An avid traveler, Jane remains fascinated by the detail and texture of the world around her, striving to highlight the beauty in the imperfect. Jane is a member of Perspective Gallery in Evanston, where she had her first solo exhibition “Fragmented” in February 2024, and of the Chicago Photographic Arts Society. Her images have featured in group shows across the US, winning awards at Photoplace Gallery in Middlebury, VT and Midwest Center for Photography in Wichita, KS. Her work has also been featured by A. Smith Gallery, Johnson City TX, Decode Gallery, Tucson AZ, Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins CO, New York Center for Photographic Art, SE Center for Photography, Greenville SC and Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis MN.

 

Website: janefeely.wixsite.com/fineartphotography

Instagram @janefeely_photograph

 

When I first started to take photographs, I focused on the technical. I engaged with the world of f-stops, white balance, exposure compensation and the rule of thirds. Photography felt like a science and, as someone with a science background, I felt comfortable with that. Yet, over time, I realized that photography is so much more than just an acquired skill set. Otherwise, how else to explain those well-composed images that just felt flat, or those images I connected to emotionally, yet which broke so many of those hard learned photography “rules”. Probably the most transformative insight came when I realized that I needed to put myself in the photograph, that it was important to make this creative process a personal one. That becoming more comfortable with openness, honesty, even vulnerability, would help to create more authentic work. That’s when I began to understand that photography could become a deeply personal practice, an avenue of self-expression and a way to connect with others. This particular exhibition is drawn from several photographic series that explore different themes. The one thing they have in common is that they are all personal to me, to my experiences and my interpretations. Whether it's dealing with the anxieties of the pandemic, exploring my relationship to the place of my birth or facing my fear of being in front of the lens, nobody else could have produced these images. They are uniquely me.