Jessica TranVo is a mixed media collage artist.

Jessica TranVo is a mixed-media artist who has exhibited and published collages in both digital and analog forms. She is a Bridgewater State’14 graduate with two bachelor's degrees in Fine Arts and English Literature and a minor in Art History. Her artistic background started with acrylic and oil painting on canvas, and continues today with mixed media. She collages digitally or on paper, using found images that incorporate elements of painting, historical research, and the poetic license to hide meaning. Her dreamscapes include elements of nature, women, outer space, sweets and desserts, and a pinch of the viewer's or the artist’s anxieties. She is an artist who consciously tries to incorporate the liminal, the weird, and the disquieting space of being bilingual, bisexual, and mixed-race Vietnamese American through painting and collaging. Instagram: @ennuiorsomething

en·nui /änˈwē/ (noun) ennui,

1. Dictionary: a feeling of utter weariness and discontent; a feeling of being tired, bored, an existential dissatisfaction

2. From Old French enui, from ennuyer, to annoy, bore. The Old French verb anoier also gave rise to a noun, variously spelled enui and annui, meaning "chagrin, sadness." The Modern French form of this noun, ennui, came to mean "boredom, lassitude," and it was with this sense that the word was borrowed into English in the 1700s.

3. Edward Gorey: “N is for Neville who died of ennui”; Sylvia Plath: “Ennui: Tea leaves thwart those who court catastrophe…”

ôr (conjunction) ˈsəmˌTHiNG/ (pronoun) or something,

1. Tumblr: “ennui-or-something” was a personal blog used to collect memes & pictures before I realized collecting art and archived images could lead to curation, collage, and mixed media: https://ennui-or-something.tumblr.com

2. A postcolonial reclamation. “French colonial administration sought to eliminate the Chinese writing system, Confucianism, and other Chinese influences from Vietnam by getting rid of Nôm. Folk literature in Vietnamese was recorded using the Chữ Nôm script, in which many Chinese characters were borrowed and many more modified and invented to represent native Vietnamese words. Created in the 13th century or earlier, the Nôm writing reached its zenith in the 18th century when many Vietnamese writers and poets composed their works in Nôm, most notably Nguyễn Du and Hồ Xuân Hương (dubbed "the Queen of Nôm poetry"). However, it was only used for official purposes during the two brief dynasties...” Source: Wikipedia

3. In translation: Chán chường or buồn bực. The first word, if translated literally into its two parts, is boredom with “school”, the institution of life, listlessness and restlessness that come from repeated disappointments. Two, is sad (the first word on its own) and frustrated or upset, possibly to tears (the second). Neither really completes the picture for me of an indolent, Vietnamese Oscar Wilde on a hammock, sighing for sport.

4. (or something) Jessica Thúy Ngân TranVo is my full name.

   1. “Jessica” is English derived from Hebrew: The name Jessica means God Beholds and is of either Hebrew or Shakespearean origin. Jessica is a baby name that was popular in the 1990s. When I was studying in Ireland, the professor went Scottish Gaelic for my translated name: Neasa or Nessie, like the Loch Ness Monster.

   2. Thúy Ngân is my given Vietnamese name. “Thúy” means water or the element mercury; quicksilver. “Ngân” means silver or plangency: to vibrate, to resound; Mèng Sây is a “middle name” my grandmother gave me from a serial about a wandering heroine.

   3. My parents were born in 1960s (Dad) and 1970s (Mom) in Vietnam. The Vietnam War ran from November 1, 1955 – April 30, 1975. They met after immigrating as refugees in the 1980-90s on the Amerasian Homecoming Act. I am mixed, but grew up in a Vietnamese-speaking household. My American half is made up of public school education, television, and early 2000’s internet.

   Addendum: I am an artist with a day job (that is still creative). I work as an events and communications administrator in higher education; have worked in administration, operations, marketing, and graphic design for a decade! I will still freelance and/or take commissions. I just want to break this art world gatekeeping and model minority grift. The struggle is still real! https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicatv/