Welcome to no. 71 in our series Poignant Pics, where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about Diana Cheren Nygren’s image, “Open Flame.”

“Which will hold greater rule over you? Your fear or your curiosity?”

— Wonder Woman

I've known about Diana Cheren Nygren's work for several years. I thought the beach people on high rises had a different twist on photoshop compositing; then, I saw more recent work that used heirloom images. I groaned to myself, "Oh no, not yet another person using old photos. So much of that relies on the viewer's sentimentality for the old photography. There is usually no strong concept that ties the image to the person's photographs they are composited with." (Mind you, not all work of that genre, but that is how the majority of it I see appears to me.) In February of this year, Diana and I exhibited together in a competitively curated 15-person international selection of photographers for the 2022 Exposure Festival at Calgary Contemporary. The festival invited both of us to serve on a four-person panel discussion entitled Conversations on Identity and Personal Narrative in Photography. The work Cheren Nygren had in the show was from the aforementioned series, so I heard her talk about it. Oh my, did I hear it. What she said about her project was enough to take me from "Oh no, not series another using old photos," to "Oh my God, this work is genius! What a brilliant use of heirloom images!" Through this chance meeting, we also learned we were both participating in the ExLab 2022 workshop run by Michael Foley of NYC's Foley Gallery. Because we were in different sections, we had no idea that we were both participants until we spoke during the online talk. The workshop culminates in a group exhibition; the 2022 exhibition opens tomorrow, July 7th. The work I am showing you, Open Flame, is from her newest series, The World Needs a Superhero, some of which Cheren Nygren is showing there.

The large tanks in the image stand near where she resides and have fascinated her for years. To me, they are almost oxymoronic in appearance. Colored in the shades of Jordan almonds, they beckon us enticingly as they stand tall in their pretty party dresses. This belies their fenced-in yards and warning signs of the danger and destructiveness contained within them. I love this image for its paradox: Why is the girl prancing in a cape in an area marked dangerous? Why are the 'scary things' so pretty in color in such an ugly, industrial-looking area? According to Cheren Nygren, "This series posits that children embody both the qualities needed to face contemporary crises and the anxiety it entails. 'Open Flame' is perhaps the one in the series that is most heavily laid with symbolism. The tank that contains chemicals that make our modern world run but also have the potential to destroy the planet. Maybe no one will notice if they look pretty?" 

Thank you, Diana, for giving me something to think about while at the same time leaving with an enjoyable image. Bravo! I look forward to seeing what you do next.

PS: If you like to see Cheren-Nygren’s work (and others, including mine) in person, more info about the ExLab exhibition is here. The opening is July 7th from 6-8pm.

Artist Bio

Diana Cheren Nygren is an award-winning photographer.  She obtained a Master's Degree in Art History from UC Berkeley with a focus on Soviet Art. Her project "When the Trees are Gone" has been featured in numerous publications both print and online and has been shown in galleries and museums around the world. Among other awards, this project was given 2nd place in the 2020 International Photo Awards, as well as being a finalist for Fresh2020, the Hopper Prize. Diana was awarded Discovery of the Year in the 2020 Tokyo International Foto Awards. Her project "The Persistence of Family" has been shown across the globe as far away as China, was awarded a Lensculture Critic's Choice Award, Best New Talent win the 2021 Prix de la Photographie, Best of Shoot in the 2021 London International Creative Competition, 2nd place in the International Photo Awards and the Budapest International Foto Awards.  The work has appeared in a number of publications, and in Spring 2022 was featured in a solo show at the Soho Photo Gallery as one of the winning projects of their annual International Portfolio Competition.

More of her work can be found here.

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.