Jessica Yatrofsky is an NYC-based artist and author, known for her work exploring body politics, beauty, and gender. She received her MFA from Parsons the New School for Design and published her first photography monograph, I Heart Boy, with powerHouse Books in 2010 and her second photography monograph, I Heart Girl, in 2015. In 2017 she published her debut collection of poems titled Pink Privacy and Golden Thrown in 2022.

Jessica’s photographic work is part of the permanent collection with the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art and the Museum of Sex. Her photography work has been exhibited overseas and her film work has been both televised and screened at film festivals internationally. Jessica’s writing has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Interview, and New York Magazine.

Her newest collection, THE OBJECT CHRONICLES, is a collection of 1,111 generative still-life photography collages, that serve as a heartfelt ode to the often-overlooked beauty found in the fusion of personal objects and the natural world.

In Yatrofksy’s own words, “In the heart of my creative journey, amidst the bustling energy of New York City, I found solace and inspiration in the quiet corners of my home. THE OBJECT CHRONICLES is my love letter to the world of objects and the boundless beauty of nature that often goes unnoticed in our daily lives.

My creative process is rooted in the discovery of the extraordinary within the ordinary. I meticulously selected personal objects from my home, each bearing its own history and significance, and [I] place them in dialogue with an array of unique flower and plant species. It is through this juxtaposition that I uncovered the hidden poetry of everyday life. 

The act of arranging these elements is a form of alchemy. I seek to capture the essence of these objects and flora, transforming them into vibrant, otherworldly abstract collages. The result is a collection of one-of-a-kind compositions that invite viewers to see the familiar in an entirely new light.

THE OBJECT CHRONICLES is an exploration of the symbiotic relationship between the human-made and the natural. It is a reminder that beauty can be found everywhere, from the forgotten corners of our homes to the intricate patterns of a leaf. Through my lens, these objects and plants become intertwined in a dance of color, texture, and form, reminding us of the profound connection we share with the world around us.”

THE OBJECT CHRONICLES mint starts December 18, 2023, at 9:00 AM PST and can be found here, on OpenSea.

OpenSea: Can you tell us about your artistic background and how you first entered the world of web3 and NFTs?

Jessica Yatrofsky: I’m a New York-based multidisciplinary artist, primarily known for film and photographic work exploring body politics, beauty, and gender. I studied applied arts as an undergraduate and I was formally trained in painting, drawing, and sculpture. While I was still in graduate school I worked on a photographic series documenting subjects that eventually became two published photography monographs, titled I Heart Boy and I Heart Girl, with Penguin Random House. Soon after my second photography series, I published my first collection of poems, Pink Privacy, a book that I later released in its entirety as my first collection of poetry NFTs. Throughout my practice, I have always been drawn to depicting raw beauty and experimenting with many mediums to communicate my ideas so that’s why in 2021 when I brought my film, photography, and poetry into web3, I viewed NFTs as the next natural step in my career.

OpenSea: We’d love to start with a macro question about your art. Who or what are your biggest inspirations and influences when creating?

Jessica Yatrofsky: I am hugely influenced by performance artists like Marina Abramović and Carolee Schneemann as well as filmmakers like Catherine Breillat. Andy Warhol’s film portraits had a large impact on me as well as writers like Valerie Solanas who inspired me to write manifestos in college. As a painter, I was very inspired by the Dutch masters like, Pieter Brueghel and Stefaan Eyckman’s still life paintings. As for photography, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the influence of photographers like Malerie Marder, Katy Grannan, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Taryn Simon to name a few… As a young artist, I was inspired by their authentic contributions to their fields and felt compelled to find my own unique voice. Over time I learned to sift through the raw materials of my interests and filter them through the lens of a life experience that I could then communicate to the world. But I was always concerned with the body and with activism in my practice so you can see those sentiments and references reflected in both my portraits and still life photography as well as in my writing.

OpenSea: What is the inspiration behind your new collection, The Object Chronicles? Would you say this collection represents a departure or evolution from your previous work?

Jessica Yatrofsky: THE OBJECT CHRONICLES arose out of my desire to record and archive nature, coupled with sentimental objects in my home. My passion for traditional still-life painting and photography led me to explore how I could create my version of a still-life image by curating personal items and working with a floral atelier. In a way, I feel like these images are self-portraits because they represent a level of intimacy I rarely share that feels both sacred and feminine. 

There is a through line with all of my work whether aesthetically or conceptually. Earlier collections like Pink Privacy, I Heart Girl, and XX GEN (released earlier this year in partnership with OpenSea) share similarities with THE OBJECT CHRONICLES in that all of these works are straightforward, direct, and interested in capturing raw beauty while favoring a specific tone and color palate.

OpenSea: Can you tell us about the creative process behind it?

Jessica Yatrofsky: Similar to XX GEN, THE OBJECT CHRONICLES is a generative collection comprised of hundreds of traits from objects I photographed. For both projects, I used a custom generator by NiftyKit to create hundreds of “one-of-one” photography collages I wouldn’t otherwise be able to physically create by hand. Working with these digital tools allowed me to be prolific. Although this series employs careful analog curation, the alchemy really comes through in the digital output. 

OpenSea: Who or what else excites you in the web3 and NFT space right now?

Jessica Yatrofsky: As artists creating NFTs, we have the opportunity to trailblaze and shape the future we want to build and occupy. We are in a unique position to shape the way we connect with collectors and collaborators globally in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. The web3 community is the most compelling and dynamic place for artists to exist now because it is still so early.

OpenSea: As the NFT and web3 ecosystem continues to evolve, what developments or trends are you most excited about, and how do you see them shaping the future of web3 art?

Jessica Yatrofsky: Creator-centric platforms and decentralized systems that promise a space where equity and equality thrive are gaining traction every day. I’m excited to be part of a future here that not only preserves the provenance of our artwork but also ensures fair compensation which I believe will reshape web3 into a more just and inclusive environment. 

More information about Jessica and her work can be found on her website and her Wikipedia page, as well as on social media platforms Instagram, and X.

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