// This Low Mound of Earth //

These photographs are about a place that is not defined by parameters that can be drawn on a map. Growing up in a military family ensured that I never occupied a specific place for more than a few months or years at a time. This itinerant childhood not only made it difficult to answer the simple question of where I’m from , but also allowed me to become comfortable with the fleeting. This affinity with ephemera led to my interest in photography and how it can be used to show an embodied location versus a geographical one.

These photographs show instances of waste, near decay, and compromise in a culture that is mired in excess and rapidly approaching its limits both in the environment and in society. The world is, for the most part, shown as I have found it -- broken, incomplete, ordinary yet complex and fascinating.

These cramped scenes contain barriers, shrouding the answers, ensuring eyes never lay on the object that allows it all to make sense. I am not trying to mimic reality , but question it. Photography is dangerous in its appearance of reality, and I am interested in the subtle things within a frame that makes me question whether or not what I am looking at is real -- I want to be able to believe a photograph, but not trust it.

Jen Mawson (b. 1994) is a photographer based out of Boston, Massachusetts. She received her BA from the University of Missouri in Interdisciplinary Studies, with an emphasis in Photography, Religious Studies and English. She graduated with an MFA in Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2020.

You can see more of Jen’s work on her site: www.jenmawson.com

And follow along on her instagram: @jenmeowson