When Melissa Jeaurond saw her neighbour’s car she knew the Mustang would make a great background for a photo.
But she had to wait until dark, to create the right atmosphere for her “selfie.” The result was a compelling, multi-coloured, high-contrast image of herself, wearing red shoes, striking a pose while touching the black convertible.
The mixed media work is among the pieces the Ingleside artist is exhibiting at the Cline House Gallery in Cornwall as part of the “Merry Mini Holiday Show” which runs until December 21.
All of the photos have common elements – they all feature Jeaurond wearing red shoes but you never see her face.
Working on the concept that the unseen is intriguing, Jeaurond notes that “Still: The Red Shoes” is a series of various characters “caught in questionable moments. It is a captured slice in time that leads the viewer to wonder what happened before and what will happen next. Is she the victim or the villain?”
She adds, “The inspiration for each character is drawn upon the film noir femme fatale, as well as the exploration of the self through personas, imagined identities and art portraiture.”
Her photography is the product of consists of experimenting with different types of lighting to create various effects in darkened environments which are inspired by chiaroscuro, the use of light and dark to achieve dramatic effects.
“Nature is one of my favourite backgrounds to use and I often brave the elements to get the shot. I am the photographer, the model, set director and costume designer of all my images,” she says. “Modern images are combined with vintage scratchy film negatives to create untold stories.”
Next year, Jeaurond will be getting more exposure. In April and July of 2025, she will be exhibiting her works at the FotoNostrum Mediterranean House of Photography in Barcelona, Spain.
Originally from Glengarry, Jeaurond attended the University of Western Ontario in London where she earned a BA in Visual Arts. “I owned a gallery in Stratford, Ontario where I represented 25 artists, taught art classes and photographed weddings and family portraits for many years,” she relates.
She has won honourable mentions in the International Photography Awards 2023, London International Creative Competition 2023, and the 23rd and 24th Julia Margaret Cameron Award for Women Photographers.
