i am sooooooo happy
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i am sooooooo happy 〰️
MISS, 2026
MISS is a multidisciplinary exhibition and zine project that investigates how women create, inherit and perform myth through family narratives, celebrity influence, childhood imagination, pageantry systems and the personal rituals that shape identity. drawing from photographs, performance, archival materials and poetic fragments, this project explores how female archetypes are formed, fractured and reassembled across generations.
using her own matriarchal lineage, early self-performances and cultural touchstones from the early aughts, petrylak maps the way women learn to see themselves and to be seen; as daughters, icons, caretakers, rebels and dreamers.
incorporated into the exhibition is footage, ephemera and written observations gathered while the artist served as a judge for regional pageants (FLUNY) including miss upstate new york, miss upstate new york teen, miss finger lakes and miss finger lakes teen. this material highlights pageants as a living site of self-presentation, aspiration, discipline and emerging myth-making among young women and girls.
MISS positions the feminine self as an evolving narrative shaped by lineage, culture, spectacle and the stories women tell about themselves and each other.
if you keep a star in a cage, june 2025
tioga arts council and cloud croft studios presents IF YOU KEEP A STAR IN A CAGE, an immersive art experience by jess petrylak. the installation begins on its opening night on first friday, June 6, from 8 - 10 PM. afterwards, join us at leonardo’s wine bar, 34 lake st., owego, ny.
IF YOU KEEP A STAR IN A CAGE is an immersive blend of visual art, live performance, poetry and music, unraveling the complexities of fame, control, and identity in the digital age. examining the tension between adoration and captivity, audiences will be confronted with echoes of pop culture’s most scrutinized figures–women who were worshiped, devoured and discarded in real time. through an empathetic lens, this work seeks to humanize these icons, challenging viewers to see beyond the headlines. this is not about nostalgia; it’s about survival and redemption.
from june 6 – 29, 2025, visit cloud croft studios – barn and schoolhouse, 1003 sanford rd., owego to for this immersive art experience.
generative poetry workshop, june 2025
as part of the IF YOU KEEP A STAR IN A CAGE installation and immersive experience by jess petrylak, the artist will offer a FREE generative poetry workshop and reading designed to explore the intersection of personal identity and celebrity culture, using writing as a means of processing collective memory and the societal obsession with fame. prompts include: tabloid erasure poems, digital diary entries, and a selfie sonnet/mirror poem. pink fuzzy pens, hand mirrors, and tabloids provided.
DATE & TIME: wednedsay, june 11, 2025 from 6 - 7:30 PM
LOCATION: cloud croft studios - schoolhouse, 1003 sanford rd., owego
superstar, nov 2023–february 2024
lost dog cafe and lounge, binghamton