Perez
Bio
Image courtesy CPR. Photo by Elyse Mertz
Jessica Perez is a Brooklyn-based filmmaker, performance artist, and writer whose work examines what it means to be working-class and haunted.
Approaching film as visual poetry, she crafts montage-driven works that expose the uncanny within the familiar.
Through found objects, performance, and experimental editing, Perez tells the story of place and class with forceful intimacy.
Her work draws audiences into recognizable spaces and symbols, then subtly distorts them to reveal latent horror and social implication.
Rooted in poetry and performance, her practice combines political insight with a visceral sense of haunting and revelation.
Performance
Born out of the isolation of the pandemic, this work weaves together journals/ing, audio diaries, documentary traces, and performance video.
Through these intersecting mediums, personal narrative becomes both archive and performance, an ongoing dialogue between reflection and embodiment.
The video anchors this exploration in an unfixed temporality, where emotion and time move in partnership.
This piece is an exploration of the cannibalistic nature of the self that wants and needs and the self that protects and serves, between vulnerability and self preservation.
began as a sudden emotional “download”
combining experimental video montage with live performance to explore memory, grief, family and loss.
Pairing fragments of personal memory with the soundscape of “Home” by FKA twigs, the performance centers on the unspeakable feeling of loss that one is powerless against.
Dressed as a clown and moving through a field of daffodils, the performer navigates themes of regret, sacrifice, and the lingering ache of those left behind.
The performance examines how these narratives were reinforced through education and nationalism. By reflecting on the violence embedded within both Mexico and the United States as nation-states, the artist rejects the idea of identity rooted in statehood, instead confronting the systems that produce and sustain exclusion.
In performance, the artist uses her own body as a site of reclamation and critique, inscribing onto her skin the words once used against her. Through this act, the piece exposes how institutions shape identity while also challenging the viewer to confront the violence embedded within cultural belonging, nationalism, and the making of the self.
emerged from the temporary rupture of quarantine during the COVID-19 Pandemic, this interactive performance invites participants to engage in a simple but repetitive action without knowing what will come next.
The performance highlights how stepping away from ordinary routines revealed their redundancy, only for many of us to return to them without question. By slowing participants down and removing the promise of forward movement, the piece exposes the tension between our desire to avoid discomfort and the many discomforts of everyday life we’ve learned to accept.
The piece mirrors the emotional rhythm of depression and the routines required to survive within systems of labor and obligation, performing the same actions again and again in order to meet basic needs. Through this structure, the work reflects on life under capitalism, where daily effort is framed as progress while often feeling circular and absurd.
Photos courtesy of Natasha Gornik
Visual
Photography
México (2018)
CDMX Transient in the west (2017)
TexasNew Mexico
Arizona
Nevada
California
Transient Home (2017-2019)
Rooms
Narrative Film
Run time: 9 minutes
Written, Directed, Edited & Produced by:
Jeannine Cannon and Jessica Perez
Starring: Kathryn Margaret Rose
Præy
Run time: 4 minutes
Written & Edited by Jessia Perez
Directed by Tea De Valle
Amour De Clown
Run time: 3 minutes
Written, Edited & Directed by Jessia Perez
Ervah
Run time: 10 minutes
Written, Edited & Directed by Samer Cohen
Cinematographer & Producer Jessica Perez
Writing
Articles
14-Minute Short Film, Drama, Fantasy
Writer: Andrea McCracken & Nora Alameddin
Principal Actors: Elizabeth Phoenix Caro, Garbriela Coro, Moises Chavez
Cinematographer: Ellin Aldana
Production Designer: Medhi Bennani
Editor: Vicky Guanquing
Written: Gabriella A. Moses
Main Cast: Viktoria Luna, Sasha Merci, Maddie Blue, Nira, Hillary Sproul, Shani Divine, Anjini Azhar, Willie Huang, Darlene “Dee” Demorizi, Ed Ventura, Darius Levante
Cinematography: Freddie Whitman
Music by: Nitzia “Nitty” Scott
Sound Design: Patrick Burgess
Art Direction: Carla Sendino
Editor: Polina Buchak and Gabriella A. Moses
Written by: Mariana Rondón, Marité Ugás
Produced by: Sterlyn Ramirez
Cast: Jean Cruz, Scarlet Camilo, Lia Chapman, Xiomara Rodriguez, Richardson Diaz
90 Minutes
Photos courtesy of Yukun (Steven) Chan
Q&A with Director Andrea McCracken
IN WONDERLAND Review Excerpt: How do you explain loss to a child? It’s a delicate matter, especially for children seeking asylum. Writer and director Andrea Camacho McCracken explores this challenging question in her short film, IN WONDERLAND” which showed at the 2023 New York Latino Film Festival.
Q&A With Director Gabriella A. Moses
“SIN RAÍCES was part of a larger story, and I thought that the grant I received was aligned with... For anyone who’s ever applied for a grant or program and found it wasn’t for them -always try again. SIN RAÍCES had been an idea for a series, actually, and it centered around a celebrity adopting a young girl.“
Album Reviews
La Luz
Hardly Art
Floating Features
May 2018
Jamila Woods
HEAVN
Jagjaguwar
October 2017