Jennifer Osborne is a contemporary documentary photographer whose work has seen the pages of Vanity Fair Italy, VICE USA, COLORS, Maisonneuve, Esquire USA, El Monde, The Walrus and other notable publications. She completed a one-year work contract with Fabrica, the United COLORS of Benetton Research Centre, in 2009. Jennifer was also a “harm-reduction” worker on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and has an interest in portraying people who suffer from addictions of all types – whether it be Internet, beauty, drug or cultural. She has a knack for documenting the underbelly of major international events and the daily lives of weathered women while she is attracted to photographing unrefined characters.
Jennifer has exhibited in group shows at various venues including: Arles 2010, Aperture Gallery, The Museum de l’Elysée, Studio La Città, Azzedine Alaïa, Art Basel Miami, Catalog Gallery and CarréRotondes. She was recently named one of Canada’s top emerging photographers by the Magenta Foundation and is a part of the ReGeneration2 book publication and exhibition.
Of this series, Wig Outs, she writes,’While living in Vancouver I resided in the demonized area known as the Downtown Eastside (DTES). I worked part-time in some of the residential housing programs and produced this series as an independent photographer. I met some of these drug-addicted subjects through work, met others at bars or in the street in front of my apartment. I am always impressed by these particular women on various levels. They are very complicated, and have been through tremendously damaging experiences.
‘Despite their difficult pasts, they are funny, humorous and loving people whom are much more vulnerable than I first expected. My subjects often display such strength and power. The discovery of their fragility lead me to wonder how they physically present themselves to the world in order to feel safer or get what they need to survive. In photographing these women, both before and after they dress for the day, I wanted to communicate the idea of vulnerability and women’s presentation of one’s self to the world. All of us dress accordingly because we are all vulnerable and want to come across in our respective desired way.
‘The DTES contains many people who are very good at heart and some may resort to illegal behaviour such as prostituting, drug-dealing, stealing and car-jacking. I want to speak of the hardship linked to illegal activity by photographing this transition into the alter-ego. These outfits often help these women dodge the police because they become unrecognizable after they finish dealing drugs, panhandling or sex-working’.
