Today we’d like to introduce you to Jaime Aelavanthara.
Hi Jaime, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I join the ranks of Floridians that have transplanted themselves here from other states. Photography sparked at age 16 when I enrolled in the Mississippi School for Math and Science. It felt like I was “going to Hogwarts,” and it was a magical time for me as I got a camera while beginning this journey. Surrounded by numbers and data in my coursework, the camera was a creative outlet. But don’t be fooled by the name of the school—the plethora of literature and art courses inspired me immensely there. English faculty had visual art projects that were worked into English courses as creative responses, a pairing of visual arts in response to the written word. At the end of high school, I declared a college major in Graphic Design. However, what seemed like the “logical” choice to monetize a creative passion wasn’t my true passion. The world of fine art photography soon materialized itself in the college classroom. It’s not something I was exposed to growing up. I’d been making digital images nonstop, but the darkroom was a magical place of discovery that opened so many new doors and means of expression.
I declared a BFA in Imaging Arts at Ole Miss, and afterwards, decided to pursue a Masters in Fine Art in Photography at Louisiana Tech University. The three years of focused exploration into the field of photography during my MFA certainly led me to the creative work I make today. I know I couldn’t have gotten here without the support of my encouraging family along the way, so there are non-linear aspects I can look back on and also attribute to this path. Writing letters to my grandma throughout my childhood to adult years, I always tried to include a drawing or something creative that could fit inside an envelope. My mom sees purpose and creative possibilities with ordinary items in and around the house, and that’s something I find present in my work. My dad formerly had his own darkroom and gifted me his 35mm camera, alongside lots of knowledge and wisdom on printers, camera systems, everything on the technology side of things.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Embracing that an art major is not always a direct or immediate route helped prepare for the realities as I finished my Bachelors in Fine Arts degree in Imaging Arts. I opted for an affordable education closer to home when pursuing my Master’s of Fine Art. My second year in that program, an assistantship I received was cut in half due to budget cuts. I had to re-consider whether it was practical to stay in the program. I opted to take on an additional part-time job working while pursuing my MFA and worked at a movie theatre. I took on double shifts, often in summer, spanning the hours 9 am-1 am. I was in a summer book arts class, and I recall there simply wasn’t enough time in the day to do everything I needed. I remember getting off work, then getting home so I could work through the night on a project, literally until the class started the next morning. Looking back, this was a lot to juggle, and for that class particularly, I stretched myself too thin. But the challenges certainly present during this time helped prepare me for the time afterwards. Time is certainly the ultimate struggle. I now devote time to art-making in-between teaching. There is often this continuation of early mornings and late nights required in order to juggle art-making in-between other tasks, but that’s the passion, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I work as both an artist and an educator. I am an Assistant Professor at the University of Tampa for four years now, so I balance teaching + being a practicing artist. I specialize in alternative photographic processes with interest in both analog techniques alongside digital methods. I make photographs for exhibitions, sell prints of my fine artwork, and occasionally teach photography workshops.
I fell in love with analog photographic processes for their expressive capability. Much of my recent work is in the Cyanotype process, where each photograph is a one-of-a-kind handmade fine art print. I constantly think about how we are all connected in this world and what unites us, and to me, that is the shared human condition. I find beauty and reprieve in exploring this topic. Much of my work examines our connection with the natural environment, both a contrast of beauty and decay, life and death, so Florida is providing a fruitful place for making furthering my creative work. The tea-stained cyanotype process resonates with me as it adds an earthiness and otherworldliness to the prints. For me, finding a process that merges with the content of the imagery adds a special dimension to the work.
A memorable moment occurred the summer I moved to Florida. I had an opening for a solo exhibition at SOHO Photo Gallery in New York for my “Untamed” series of tea-stained cyanotype prints in 2017. I visited the exhibit with my older sister, and it was a celebration of sorts before I began my new journey in Florida. Coming from a small town in Mississippi, it felt like a milestone to exhibit work with a large audience outside my immediate geographic location. More recently, as of the past few months: the new Ferman Center for the Arts opened at the University of Tampa. Myself and art + design colleagues have commissioned artworks installed throughout each of the four floors of the building. I am proud to be in a community that is seeing such growth for the arts and arts education in central Florida, and that excites me!
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
For those interested in my work, I have an Etsy shop that helps me in my endeavors of creating new work: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtistJaime. There’s no greater joy/support than getting artwork out into the world through exhibitions or collaborating with other creatives. The best way to contact me is by email: jaelavanthara@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Email: jaelavanthara@gmail.com
- Website: http://www.jaelavanthara.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darkroomdove/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artistjaimea
- Other: etsy.com/shop/ArtistJaime
