I am interested in slight shifts and changes and what happens in between spaces of attention and inattention. I often think about time, distance, meaning of place, and the presence of the moment at hand. I work within the framing of video theory and use light and trace as a guiding form. I’m interested in permanence and impermanence and think about the fleeting and the archive. Using digital and material fragments, I investigate the collapse of virtual and physical spaces as memories, lived environments, and digital interfaces become overlaid and interchangeable. I am interested in the capacity for technology to propose alternative strategies in which to engage with the world as we continue to extend ourselves in new and enduring methods. The ephemeral nature of my work speaks to that constant reforming happening in and around us. I refine selected elements and fragments into their essentials to piece them together and create and explore different possibilities.

About the artist

Joana Stillwell is an artist and archivist born in the Philippines, raised around the Pacific, and is currently based in Washington, D.C. She graduated with a BA in Art History and a BFA in Photomedia from the University of Washington in 2012, earned an MFA in Kinetic Imaging from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2017, and received her MLIS from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2021. Recent exhibitions and installations include but, also (Washington, D.C.), DLECTRICITY (Detroit, MI), Tiger Strikes Asteroid (Greenville, SC), 1708 Gallery’s Inlight (Richmond, VA), and SOIL Gallery (Seattle, WA). Residencies include Mildred’s Lane (Beach Lake, PA), Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), Sirius Arts Centre (Cobh, Ireland), and The Studios at MASS MoCA, (North Adams, MA).

www.joanastillwell.com