Jennifer Robison

Artist Jennifer Robison responds to an internal dialogue questioning everyday experiences through natural environments and implied narratives. Her work started as a way to process thyroid cancer, which a butterfly symbolizes. Investigations in structural color and entomology reflect in this work as questions about societal roles and generational conditioning. Robison works with her daughter as a surrogate. The process serves as a platform for familial communication about perceived roles women play and how those evolve.

Robison's work explores how light interacts with the structural color of iridescent insects and how the variances of human perception of light and color can be paralleled with how humans  understand one another. Much like light on the ever-moving wing of the butterfly, our own  perceptions of the world—including our own biases and understanding—are shifting and  changing as our experience evolves.

In the natural world, color is a method of communication. Visual cues on insects communicate whether a creature is male or female, dangerous to touch or benign, act as camouflage, and much more. However, these communications are interpreted differently by humans, others of the same species, and the predators and prey of the animal in question. Each viewer has a different perception of the creature that is defined by their own knowledge and experience.

Robison is currently a Photography Instructor for the Division of Communication & Performing Arts at Bossier Parish Community College (BPCC). In 2019 the Louisiana Community and Technical Colleges System (LCTCS) elected Robison for the Outstanding Faculty Award. Her interest in butterflies exhibiting structural color has led to her serving as a Research Assistant at Louisiana State University’s Department of Entomology.

Learn more about Jennifer Robison at https://www.jrobison.com/.