It’s a desire to capture emotion, a feeling about who someone is, rather than just what they look like, that drives Ona Janzen’s work. “Often people comment that their children seem much older in my photographs, and that they can see them as adults,” says Ona Janzen.
Commercially-trained and working professionally for four years, Janzen’s body of work consists primarily of fine-art portraits, many of young people. Her work seeks an emotional response from the viewer and is influenced by a desire to pause her subjects and capture fleeting moments, seemingly between emotional states.
When working with young people, Janzen uses meditation techniques to prepare them for the shoot. “I ask them to stop, close their eyes, and take a few deep breaths. If they’re particularly wound up, I ask them to physically feel the earth under their feet,” she says. “They become grounded and present. I can even see the right moment [to shoot], under closed eyelids. Usually, it’s very brief, but just enough to capture a different part of them; a side where they’re not ‘on show’.”
Janzen’s style is to try to capture just a hint of someone; the side of a face, a silhouette, or soft light on closed eyes. Her aim is to achieve a subtler, less distinct portrayal of the person in the portrait. Her portraits have been included in 15 group exhibitions to date, and she was a finalist in the Head On Portrait Prize in 2014 and twice a semi-finalist, in 2011 and 2015. She was also twice selected as a semi-finalist for the Moran Contemporary Portrait Prize and recognised nationally while a student, winning both AIPP APPA and ACMP Student of the Year for 2012.
www.onajanzen.com.au
