About the Artist

Jessica McDaniel combines photography and traditional drawing in an unexpected way to show the relationship between reality and memory. McDaniel's cinematic scenes are windows to the past and the lingering presence of the people who once inhabited the spaces. She photographs abandoned houses, prints high quality images, and proceeds to draw figurative elements directly onto the image to create memories left behind. She is interested in the ideas of memory, loss, nostalgia, and homesickness.

McDaniel is a graduate of Fine Arts and Art History at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. She received an Office of Undergraduate Research scholarship to assist in continuing the development of her photo drawing project, which explores memory and loss through haunting portraiture of the past in decayed spaces. McDaniel is currently working on a collaborative project within her field and continuing research on abandoned homes.