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Jessie McClanahan

Tenderness in Death 2024 — Tenderness in Death, 2024

3.5 Billion Dead 2024 — 3.5 Billion Dead, 2024

Coal Fullshot_ 2023 — Coal Fullshot, 2023

The People There Are Trash 2021 — The People There Are Trash, 2021

Jessie McClanahan

Website: jessiemcclanahan.com
Ins: @mud.n.mushrooms

Artist Statement

Jessie McClanahan grew up in the endless forests and coalfields of West Virginia surrounded by lands that were either vehemently protected or carelessly destroyed by industry. That these aspects of living in Appalachia have a gravity with one another created a felt experience. Her works highlight the disconnect between the extractive nature of the economy built around West Virginia and the folkways preserved there.

Using this lived experience in rural Appalachia, McClanahan’s works are a response to perceived ideas of what an Appalachian identity holds with the broader impacts these stereotypes create. Investigating the impacts of historically perpetuated stereotypes of the region, she juxtaposes them against the folkways of the area while integrating aspects of mycology and plant propagation to create living sculptures with fungi. These sculptures and performance works utilize interdisciplinary models of working consisting of ceramics, textiles, coal, and other natural materials with moments of collaboration with fungi and other organisms celebrating the fumbles and success of community.

Artist Bio

Jessie McClanahan (She/Her) is an interdisciplinary artist and M.F.A. candidate in studio arts at Syracuse University, hailing from Southern West Virginia. Growing up in the forests and coalfields that surrounded her hometown, she learned to live in harmony with nature and the other creatures with whom she shared space. This influence, characterized by vehement protection for the environment juxtaposed with its careless destruction by industry, serves as the driving force behind her creative practice.