Jesse Hensel

Bio

I was born and raised in Alaska. The living tradition of Yupik woodcarving is the foundation of my visual vocabulary. I am finishing my M.F.A. in Sculpture at S.F.A.I. I recently curated “The Potluck Exhibition” at the Swell Gallery and I have been selected to show at the Luggage Store.

Statement

We can never truly comprehend what we have not personally experienced. However, some concepts speak across temporal and social divides because they are fundamental to, and impact all, human experience. Mortality is the condition of life. Death is instinctually feared. Murder is a fundamental taboo and a universal reality. Genocide is the quintessential perversion of life. I have not personally witnessed the holocaust or the ongoing crisis in Darfur. However, refusing to contemplate and comment on genocide would be ignoring reality and a futile attempt to deny implicit culpability.

Confront genocide. It is human to die. It is human to kill. It is human to deny humanity.