Jana Ghezawi
In a world of technological numbness and cultural disenchantment, I am actively pursuing wonder, joy, and imagination in my work. Creating new and positive experiences, I am engaged in a play that is healing and like cartoons, is reality- bending. Using the cartoon world as a fictional and philosophical mindset, the world becomes full of infinite possibility. I am influenced by image making, metaphysics, myths, games, and animation. My current research investigates cuteness and the power of its ambiguity. With some of my characters, the cute frowning face attempts to appear menacing. Cuteness acts as a dangerous substrate for crowd manipulation, favoritism, and eventually world domination.
I gravitate to animals, insects, and creatures, as they act as a primordial lens to mythology and symbolism and meaningful storytelling and belief. Referencing ancient civilizations that regarded gods as anthropomorphic enmeshments of human and animal, my work imparts significance to all living things and nature on Earth. I propose the creation of more modern mythologies.
She explores time as a generative cycle as opposed to an oppressive machine that measures labor and productivity. Jana was raised in Rocky Top, TN and earned her MFA from the University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd School of Art in 2026. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and plans to continue cultivating educational spaces for others through academia and community outreach.
Artist Statement
Jana Ghezawi is a multidisciplinary artist working with oil paint, papier mâché, and ceramics. Her research includes the pop culture of cartoons, myth making, personal iconography, and the threshold between fiction and reality. Jana makes ceramic and papier-mâchéd creatures as guardians and symbols in this speculative world of timelessness and healing.
B. Rocky Top, TN
(she/her)
Favorite Icecream: Mint Chocolate Chip
She explores time as a generative cycle as opposed to an oppressive machine that measures labor and productivity. Jana was raised in Rocky Top, TN and earned her MFA from the University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd School of Art in 2026. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and plans to continue cultivating educational spaces for others through academia and community outreach.
She explores time as a generative cycle as opposed to an oppressive machine that measures labor and productivity. Jana was raised in Rocky Top, TN and earned her MFA from the University of Georgia, Lamar Dodd School of Art in 2026. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and plans to continue cultivating educational spaces for others through academia and community outreach.