Conversation: Jenifer Prince
We talk cinema and censorship with Brazilian illustrator Jenifer Prince, who reinterpets the melodrama of retro art styles for a lush vision of 20th century queer romance.
We love your Sapphic imagery – what drew you to depict those kinds of stories?
Thank you! As a lesbian, illustrating sapphic imagery was a natural way of trying to understand and express my own feelings and desires. Initially, my intention was to just express all the ideas and narratives that I had in my mind, almost like a stream of consciousness. Nowadays, added to that feeling, I deliberately decided to explore that theme in my personal work to tell our stories to the world.
What is it about the aesthetic you’re referencing that you want to explore or subvert?
I always loved the vintage, nostalgic aesthetic of comic books and pulp covers from the 50s, but when we think about those times through a queer perspective, we immediately think of how it was terrible for queer people to exist, let alone love. We had the Hays Code in Hollywood and the Comics Code Authority in the comic book industry that were extremely homophobic censorships. In the lesbian pulp stories, the characters had to end up being punished or in a relationship with men and we rarely had happy or hopeful endings. Because of that lack of positive depiction of Sapphic existences or relationships, my intention is to explore that aesthetic in my work and somewhat reclaim the stories from that period that we've been robbed from.
What have you enjoyed working on recently?
I'm always looking forward to starting my next piece and I truly enjoy experimenting with each new work to get better at my craft and maybe try something different each time. I’m also working on a short comic, which is a challenge because I’m more used to working in illustrations with just a single panel, but it’s been fun to experiment with it!
Tell us about your practice!
If I’m not working on something, I’m studying! I like to practice the foundations almost daily and I like to experiment with layers, brushes and textures everytime I start something new. I work mostly digitally, but practice time is almost always with pencil on paper. I pay close attention to the storytelling when I’m working and I'm a very curious person, so consuming queer media is also part of my practice - the most fun part, I’d say. Besides being up to date with what’s happening in terms of queer representation, sometimes I bingewatch old Hollywood movies while drawing so I can get a better sense of the setting and drama of those times’ narratives.
What’s the most romantic love story you’ve ever read or seen?
I recently watched a few old Hollywood movies that had very subtle representations of lesbians, and that’s so interesting and inspiring in many ways, because I keep thinking of how it could have been if it wasn’t for the homophobia. I read a lot of historic fiction and biographies, specially, of course, the ones that involve queer women, and I spend a great part of my time researching to learn more about queer history – not just for work, but also to feed my curiosity. What’s the most romantic love story you’ve ever read or seen
