Ballarat International Foto Biennale GradFoto 2024 finalist.
Kirra Jeram (Pronouns: She/They) is a digital photographer from Naarm/Melbourne, Australia who specialises in portraiture with a kitsch, nostalgic and colourful aesthetic that sometimes tackles more darker concepts surrounding mental and physical illness. Kirra graduated in 2018 with their Bachelors in Photography at RMIT. With their graduating work being chosen to be featured in a group exhibition Changing Room within RMITs First Site Gallery. After graduating Kirra set off to work in the US at Walt Disney World in 2019-2020 sadly due to a global pandemic Kirra was back in Australia before she knew it. With a new found love on nostalgia she found herself working in the Melbourne burlesque and drag scene photographing portraits of up-and-coming burlesque artists. Thanks to Lush Australia, Kirra was also regularly shooting corporate events for the brand throughout 2021-2024 and also landed the opportunity to photograph a book for Page Street Publishing in 2023 for seamstress Allie Up-cycles titled Not your grans sewing book. Between mid-2023 and 2024 Kirra took on the opportunity to complete their Masters in photography at RMIT, soon to graduate at the end of 2024.
instagram.com/kirra.jeram.photography
kirra.squarespace.com
The unseen experience of chronic health: Seeking empathy through photographic practices (2024)
Archival inkjet on platine fibre rag
The unseen experience of chronic health: Seeking empathy through photographic practices is a series of digital self portrait photographs representing my lived experience with chronic health. Each photograph depicts an other worldly version of the symptoms I regularly experience living with health conditions including endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, chronic fatigue, gastritis, anxiety and vaginosis. The choice to make the work have an internally built world that is colourful, nostalgic and somewhat whimsical was due to feelings of overwhelm and discomfort when seeing photographic works on the same subjects of health. Predominantly chronic health would be captured photographically in a documentary format though this can be incredibly informative it can also be uncomfortable and invasive for the audience. This series aimed to still depict and create conversation around chronic health but in a way it was less overwhelming and empowering to the audience who experience chronic illness. The work is photographed using props, self-timer on a digital camera set on a tripod, composited backdrops of my grandparents home and studio lighting. Every aspect of the photographs was controlled and created by myself as a way to harness the lack of control over the lived experiences. The composited backdrops in combination with the nostalgia is used to communicate the heredity nature of health every illness I experience has been passed on through genetics or family trauma. There is a sense of catharsis from creating a work so personal with the intention to help others.
Get well soon: Questioning medical and social bias through photographic practices, 2024
Combination of lenticular prints and Photographic print on Lustre paper
“Diagnosis of endometriosis is often delayed, with an average of between 6 and 8 years between onset of symptoms and diagnosis” –as quoted by The Australian Institute of Health and welfare.
Get well Soon: Questioning medical and social bias through photographic practices is a queer feminist photographic series using collaboration between myself and the models through discussing their health experiences and then adapting their symptoms/experiences through performative kitsch aesthetics within digital staged photographs.
The images depict an array of health experiences both mental and physical from endometriosis, polycystic ovaries, lesion on the brain, chronic headaches to dissociative identity disorder, depression and obsessive compulsion disorder. Unfortunately AFAB people often face the difficulty of being misdiagnosed, dismissed which can become costly both causing further physical and mental illness as well as financial issues from both having to take time off work or for having to seek out multiple medical practitioners for advice.
This topic is a ongoing global issue for AFAB bodies this is made evident by the array of artwork made on the topic inspiring the series Get well soon, including Georgie Wileman’s This is Endometriosis series, Frida Kahlo’s self portraits surrounding her experiences with miscarriage and ongoing health issues such as Polio, and Alannah Dair with her sculptural fabric work based on invasive surgery to check for endometriosis.
Visual inspiration for the work can be found in Juno Calypso and Mia Mala McDonald artistic work with their similar use of studio lighting in a location setting as well as bold colourful imagery.
Making the work interactive by picking up the cards and reading them allows for the photographs to be viewed in a more personal way you can connect more deeply with each individual and their experiences.
Foucault’s knowledge-equals-power is the methodology focused on in the work. Power is gained from the audience and models as they understand the lived experience of chronic illness but simultaneously power is gained from educating the audience on the topic as the more people are aware of the issues AFAB people face the more likely we will be able to advocate for change within the medical world.
Bibliography:
Alannahdair.com. (2024). Alannah Dair. [online] Available at: https://alannahdair.com [Accessed 5 Nov. 2024].
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023). Endometriosis, Endometriosis. [online] Available at: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-disease/endometriosis-in-australia/contents/endometriosis#.
Henri Matisse. Frida Kahlo. [online] Available at: https://www.fridakahlo.org.
Hohaia, J. (2024). Supporting graphics within work. [Digital art] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/zess/.
junocalypso. junocalypso. [online] Available at: https://www.junocalypso.com.
Portrait Photographer (2024). Mia Mala McDonald. [online] Mia Mala McDonald. Available at: http://www.miamalamcdonald.com/people [Accessed 5 Nov. 2024].
Wileman, G. (2014). Georgie Wileman. [online] Georgie Wileman . Available at: https://www.georgiewileman.com/this-is-endometriosis-1.
