JAINA CIPRIANO          

 

BIO

 

Jaina Cipriano is an experiential designer, filmmaker, and photographer whose work intricately explores the emotional complexities of religious and romantic entrapment. Through her immersive worlds, Jaina invites viewers to reconnect with their neglected inner child, blending explosive colors, elements of elevated play, and a dynamic interplay of light and dark to evoke profound, often unspoken emotions.

 

As a filmmaker, Jaina writes and directs award-winning short films that confront the challenges of healing. Her second short film, *Trauma Bond*, a dreamy coming-of-age thriller that delves into the allure of quick fixes for deep wounds, won the grand prize at the Lonely Seal International Film Festival.  

 

In her photographic work, Jaina eschews digital manipulation, crafting everything for the camera. Her immersive, documentary-like approach encourages her subjects to freely engage with the intricately designed spaces she creates. The process is often described as both cathartic and playful, while her work, exhibited internationally, resonates deeply with audiences through its raw, authentic portrayal of human emotion.  

Jaina is also the owner and executive director of the Arlington International Film Festival and the founder of Finding Bright Studios, an experiential design company based in Lowell, MA. She has collaborated with GRRL HAUS, Boston Art Review, and was a Boston Fellow for the MassArt Creative Business Incubator. Additionally, she was a finalist in EforAll Merrimack Valley and selected for the top 200 of Critical Mass.  

 

ARTIST STATEMENT:

 

My work is rooted in creating immersive photographic worlds that explore the emotional landscapes of the human experience. Growing up in the isolating environment of a fundamentalist Christian cult, I found photography as a way to bridge the divide between myself and the world. Through the lens, I began to transform feelings of fear and separation into tools for self-expression, healing, and connection.
At the heart of my practice is a fascination with how constructed spaces influence our internal lives. Each photograph I create is a world meticulously built by my hands, blending reality and imagination to evoke themes of entrapment, transformation, and nostalgia. My images often reference childhood narratives—Bible stories, fairy tales, and suburban iconography—examining how these shape our understanding of ourselves and our potential. Through this exploration, I aim to give viewers a mirror for their own emotions, offering them a moment of recognition and a space for healing.
My creative process begins with emotional intuition and develops through deliberate worldbuilding. I design each photograph as a cinematic scene, constructing sets entirely by hand without relying on digital manipulation. This tactile process brings authenticity to my work, allowing the environments I create to resonate as physical extensions of the inner self. Lighting plays a critical role, as I use it to amplify mood, shape the narrative, and guide the viewer’s focus. Each image is a result of hours, sometimes days, of meticulous setup, resulting in a visual narrative that feels simultaneously intimate and otherworldly.
Self-portraiture is a significant aspect of my work, often serving as a tool for personal transformation. These sessions are raw and instinctual, reflecting the chaos and vulnerability of the emotions I’m processing. I end each session exhausted, yet altered, as though I’ve undergone a physical and emotional catharsis. Sharing these images with an audience completes the transformation, as the act of looking creates a shared space of connection and understanding.

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:

 

Cambridge Art Association, The Empty Mirror, Boston, MA, 2024 Laconia Gallery, The Empty Mirror, Boston, MA, 2023

The Station, NERVOUS SYSTEM, Boston, MA. Curated by Boston Art Review, 2023 Boston University, 808 Gallery.Dreamscapes: Finding the Light Through Immersive Design, Boston, MA, 2022

Beacon Street Gallery. The Infinite Mirage of Rapture, Brookline, MA, 2022

Griffin Museum of Photography, WinCam Gallery, The Infinite Mirage of Rapture, Winchester, MA, 2021

Shelter in Place Gallery, Empty Spaces, Online, 2020

 

Selected Group Shows:

 

ephemera + NOICE, Happening Happenstance, Tokyo, Japan. Curated by Colin Czerwinski, 2024

13FOREST, As Luck Would Have It, Arlington, MA, 2023

Kingston Gallery, Hard Times, Boston, MA. Curated by Martina Tang, 2023

 

The Scollay Square Gallery, Emerging, Boston, MA, 2022

Leica Gallery, Inward Outward, Boston, MA. Curated by OJ Slaughter, 2022 Panopticon Gallery, First Look 2022. Online, 2022

The British Journal of Photography, Edition 365, 2022

Griffin Museum of Photography, Lafayette Gallery, Once Upon a Time. Boston, MA, 2021 Gallery 236, Chasing Light. Online, 2021

ArtBeat, This is POP. Somerville, MA, 2021 Stay at Home Gallery, BigMood. Online. 2020

Rhode Island Center for Photographic Art, Behind the Lens Plus 2021: Women in Photography.

 

RI, 2021

Emerson Contemporary Gallery, Art for Tomorrow. Boston, MA, 2020

 

The Curated Fridge, Autumn 2020. Online. Juried by Raymond Thompson Jr & William Camargo, 2020

The Griffin Museum of Photography, 26th Juried Show. Online, 2020 The Griffin Museum of Photography, Corona. Online, 2020

Dorchester Art Project, Emotion Revolution. Dorchester, MA, 2020 The Curated Fridge, Summer 2019.

Somerville, MA. Juried by Alyssa Coppelman, 2019

 

Selected Publications:

 

Photographer Jaina Cipriano is the Best Thing Since Gregory Crewdson - The Phoblographer Somerville's ArtBeat Festival 'Pops' Back In-Person This Year - WBUR.

Somerville Photographer Jaina Cipriano on Emotive Release via Art, Childhood Trauma and more - Boston Hassle.

Gimme 5 - GRRL HAUS CINEMA

Better Boston Arts Interview Article - Dig Boston.

When it gets too dark - An analysis of Jaina Cipriano's "You don’t have to take orders from the moon" - Boston Compass.

Somerville Artists Honor Lives Lost to COVID - Somerville Times.

Somerville Artist Jaina Cipriano: Captures the pain within - Somerville Times.

In Virtual Exhibition 'Emotion Revolution,' Artists Express Feelings Of Crisis - WBUR

 

Awards + Grants:

 

Critical Mass 2024: Top 200

NEFA Public Art Learning Fund 2025

 

 

 

 

 

JAINA CIPRIANO

WORKS [ Selection ]

All the works can be purchased here 

 
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