Olivia Jia’s unconventional still lifes function as a way of organising disparate images, objects and ideas and their attendant personal and public histories. Contrary to the experience of hyperphantasia — the ability to conjure and recall images with extreme clarity and vividness, to “see,” with the mind’s eye — Jia describes her process of remembering through language. Thus, similarly to some mnemonic devices, Jia’s paintings construct architectures in which she houses the significant images in her mind, in an effort to carve them into reality, and ultimately to remember them.
Olivia Jia (b. 1994, Chicago, IL) is a Philadelphia-based painter. She received a BFA from the University of the Arts in 2017. Honors include the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship to attend the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art in 2015 and the President’s Award at the University of the Arts. She has exhibited at venues including Dongsomun in Seoul, South Korea and Marginal Utility, New Boone, and Space 1026 in Philadelphia, PA.
