Jess Fijalkovich is a visual artist, curator, and archivist. They merge and expand upon these practices through memory work, like detective work and archaeology, working backward, searching for clues, unraveling signs and traces, and piecing together reconstructions out of the fragments of evidence. Using photography, hand papermaking, and sculpture, their work is an amalgamation of traditional techniques and modern aesthetics that explores the intersections of memory, history, and abstraction. They are inspired by natural forms and human-made objects, drawing parallels between the organic and the constructed. Their work invites viewers to look closer, to consider the textures, layers, and patterns that connect the past and present.
Fijalkovich has curated exhibitions at the Cleveland Print Room and an art lending collection at the Akron Art Museum. They have also held positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and FRONT International. Fijalkovich has been an artist in residence at the Sable Project (Stockbridge, VT) and the Winslow House Project (Vallejo, CA). Their work has been in exhibitions at Bass & Reiner (San Francisco, CA), the Carnegie Museum of Art for the inaugural Pittsburgh Art Book Fair (Pittsburgh, PA), Cleveland Print Room (Cleveland, OH), and Troppus Projects (Kent, OH). Fijalkovich is a 2023 Knight Art + Tech Expansion Fund grantee, with a focus on digitization and archiving, and a 2023 ArtsNow Creative Investment Program grantee.
