Jo Locke

Joanna (Jo) Locke, [American, 2002- (she/they)], is using their creative pracitce as an exploration and study of progress. Questioning our current built reality through the lens of creating a more equitable and sustainable sense of belonging for everyone.

 Locke can be defined as an interdisciplinary artist working with a primary emphasis in Printmaking and Collage. Locke’s work is inspired by observation of our built world. Much of their abstract imagery is drawn from structures in daily life. These structures were studied and experienced after spending a significant portion of the last years immersed in Globalized Cultures. Locke has become captivated with the impacts of globalization. They are interested in questioning the production of progress on a global scale. Their abstract paintings are made with various non-traditional fabrics in place of canvas. Many of these fabrics highlight Locke’s background in Printmaking acting as a base pattern for the later added gestural and structured marks. The use of collected materials from Locke’s travels describes the interconnected nature of our societies within our globalizing world. How is progress changing as we become more captivated in a globally interdependent world?

 

Illusion of Progress

The mechanical chaos of my optical collages are created through a series of modular steps which work to continuously explore our Illusion of Progress: 

  1. Painfully withdraw from the addictive urge to consume copious amounts of entertaining out-of-context information.

  2. Attempt to catalog the information existing within the subconscious by slowing down. Take a walk, meditate, or grain a lithography stone for 6 hours. 

  3. Find time for reflection so you may identify spaces and experiences of emotional impact. For me, this often comes in the iterative reality of material exploration and play in my creative practice.

  4. Use your identified spaces and experiences to draw conclusions about your purpose and Truth and therefore your vocation.

  5. Compare your modes of production to your vocation. Analyze how your valuable time is being spent. How does society constrain you from embracing your Vocation? 

Steps must be completed with intentionality and autonomy. Completing these steps will permit the individual to analyze the illusion of progress as it exists in their life, however withdrawing from media in contemporary society is no easy feat. This work encourages the viewer to seek exploration of the in-between that exists only when the individual priorities alternative forms within the context our productionally progressing society.