Jessica Caldas

Lives and works in High Springs, FL, USA and Atlanta, GA, USA

Artist statement

Jessica Caldas [email protected] www.jessicacaldas.com My work is driven by personal experience and its connection to contemporary and historical issues. Overall, my work addresses the complexities and intricacies of care and identity in our current culture. I seek to make challenging experiences accessible to those without the same somatic knowledge while still engaging in conversation and confrontation. In my practice, I incorporate layered, labor intensive drawings, collage, sculpture, performance, et al, into fully realized mixed media works and immersive installations. Within my work, the viewer is met with bodily experiences that mirror the complexities of the stories I share, with a focus on shared knowledge, awareness, empathy, and change.

Artwork

• Why would we choose anything but softness?, 2026. Colored pencil, watercolor, ink, crayon, alcohol marker, gouache,
• She was made to walk, bound in heavy gold chains and weighed down by jewels (Zenobia), 2025. Used, thrifted, and gifted house linens, cardboard, wood, poly fiber fill, mirrors, and other embellishments/adornments
• Nine Mothers, 2024. Filmed Performance
• I come honouring your power (Clytemnestra), 2023. Used house linens, poly fiber fill, house patterned quilt, fabricated structures from gifted furniture, fabric wallpaper, found and embellished light fixture
• I could not both live and still be a statue (Galatea and Paphos), 2023. Used house linens, fabricated structures from gifted furniture, plaster, beads, polymer clay, poly fiber fill, fake pearls, found light fixture, and acrylic paint
• No one ever really knows except the mother II (Merope & Epicaste), 2023. Used house linens, poly fiber fill, beads, fabricated structures from gifted furniture, metal rod, digital photos printed on paper
• I have birthed so many sorrows (Jacosta), 2023. fabricated structures from gifted furniture, 1,205 photocopies, crayons, t-pins, polymer clay, tufted rug
• A name can be in a lot of places at once (Helen), 2023. Used house linens, crochet, fabricated structures from gifted furniture, polymer clay, yarn, poly fiber fill, fake pearls, and ceramic
• In return for the good thing (Pandora), 2023. Used house linens, poly fiber fill, embroidery, fabricated structures from gifted furniture, polymer clay, beads and fake pearls, ceramic, iron, fresh fruit offerings, found light fixture
• The word for what I was did not exist (Circe), 2023. Bisqueware, Preserved flora, wall drawing and text by Rachel Caldas, digital photos printed on paper
• Milk Bath (Grace), 2022. Used house linens, poly fiber fill, imitation pearls, tufted rug, wall paintings, family objects (mirror and table), and rope
• The Dilemma (Rachel), 2022. Used house linens, mirror, bricks, rope and twine
• The Caretaker (Elizabeth), 2022. Used house linens, poly fiber fill, family rocking chair, cinder block, rope
• The Endeavor - Performances, 2021. Soft sculpture, performance
• The Endeavor, 2021. Soft Sculpture and Performance
• I carry them on my back, 2021. Sculpey and ink wash
• What day is it where you are?, 2020. Sculpey and india ink
• Separation Anxiety, 2020. Sculpey and india ink
• Failed Downward Dog, 2020. Sculpey and india ink
• Bad Hammies, 2020. Sculpey and india ink