A Foundation on Loss and Pain: The Thesis Work of Jeen Na
Dear Grand Rapids, LGBTQ stories are flourishing in your city and artist Jeen Na is sharing them with us.
Earlier this month, I wandered around the undergraduate and graduate thesis exhibitions at Kendall College of Art and Design (KCAD). The graduate exhibition in The Fed Galleries housed imaginative works, including large-scale ink on paper drawings by Jennifer Cantley, and a fabulous room of acrylic paintings and ceramics by sisters Beibei and Leilei Chen. But it was the undergraduate thesis work of Jeen Na that stopped me completely, not only in its visual presence, but in its simple concept: “why do we choose to stay.”
The “we” in this question is defined as the queer men of West Michigan. In his thesis titled “As Much Heaven as Earth,” Na explores “the coming of age memories and experiences” of these men through their own words with a photo essay and graphic publication.
After losing a childhood friend to suicide due to homophobia, Na was searching for answers. He reached out to the queer community at KCAD, attended weekly meetings at the Grand Rapids Pride Center, and even bought a plane ticket to speak with queer artists from across the country.
“I realized that much of the LGBTQ community had built its home on a foundation of loss and pain,” says Na, “derived from the question that many queer individuals face: Why do we choose to stay?”
As a recent transplant to Grand Rapids, I am constantly faced with the question: Why did you leave San Francisco? I’ve answered this question so many times, particularly in other articles here on cultured.GR, my love letters to my new community. But I hadn’t yet been thinking about the members of this community who have come before me, or have been here their entire lives.
Na’s portraits vibrate under the pressure of his potent question. A familiar space like The Apartment Lounge, with its dark interior lit by television screens playing Top 40 pop remix videos, becomes an illuminated paradise in “Robert Andy Coombs, 8 years”. Coombs, whose blazer’s pattern mimics the pulsating neon rainbow surrounding him, acts as guardian of the spectacle.
In “Jackson Ezinga, Wayfinding,” Na’s composition reminds us of the cinematic trope of a UFO from outer space landing on a deserted midwest cornfield. But here, Na’s subject in Ezinga isn’t an unidentified alien in a new terrain, but a named person with a story and an experience specific to this physical and cultural landscape.
Na’s collaboration with his subjects included storytelling in the form of letter writing. He asked each subject to write letters to themselves at various ages.
“I made a lot of mistakes and most likely offended people or exploited their help because I was in such a self-destructive state at the beginning of my project,” says Na. “Later on in the project I began to realize that a lot of the pain was from my own misunderstandings of the people in my portraits and their stories. We do not all feel the same pain, but we do all feel a pain — no matter how great — that seems to stem from a similar place deep within our memories.” Through ongoing, challenging conversations, Na and his subjects were able to create a safe space of trust that lead to the current state of this thesis work.
Though we only see this handful of work now, Na says his thesis is hardly complete.
“I have a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me to keep going,” he says. “So I am going to listen to it.”
The artist has just finished his undergraduate art education, and at 22, he has a bright future supported by a strong conceptual foundation in “As Much Heaven as Earth.” What’s next for this recent grad?
“This project has made me wonder who else is out here in Grand Rapids that wants to talk about these things,” says Na. I hope that many people will step forward to share their stories with him.
“As Much Heaven as Earth” is currently on view through August 20 at KCAD, 17 Fountain Street Building, Floor 3.
