Janelle O’Malley is an interdisciplinary artist, art educator, and independent curator working in Northern Illinois. They received their Bachelors of Fine Art concentrating in Painting from Northern Illinois University in 2012. After working in non profit art education Janelle returned to Northern Illinois University to pursue dual Masters degrees; M.S. in Art and Design Education (2022) and an M.F.A concentrating in Sculpture (2024).  Their work has been recently shown at Coco Hunday Tampa, FL; Wright Museum Beloit, WI; Residency Project Pasadena, CA; Franconia Sculpture Park Minneapolis, MN; Freeport Art Museum Freeport, IL; NIU Art Museum Dekalb, IL; Abington Art Center Jenkintown, PA and Public Space One Iowa City, IA.

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My practice critically examines the construction of gender through the act of collecting and recontextualizing everyday objects, which serve as vessels for the complex and shifting negotiations of identity. Through found objects, advertisements, and archival materials I investigate how shared experiences and collective memories are mediated and performatively constructed. These materials, seemingly neutral or mundane, become conduits through which I explore the intricate processes of gender and identity formation. Drawing upon queer theory, my work delves into the ways in which objects aid this performance. From the tactile sensation of plastics, the scent of lip gloss, or the textures of interiors and exteriors, the work reflects aspects of embodiment and the fluidity of gender and desire. These objects, laden with both nostalgia and cultural imprints, destabilize normative narratives of identity, offering a space for transgressive re-imaginings of the self.

Through excavating fragments of my childhood, my work draws attention to the ways in which gendered roles and expectations are inscribed in everyday artifacts. Queer theory informs this excavation by challenging heteronormative understandings of memory and identity, revealing how these artifacts are sites of potential rupture. Identity is always in flux, never fixed or static. Through this examination, the nostalgic reconnection with childhood objects disrupts the presumption that gender is something stable, linear, or universally experienced. In this process, I interrogate how the passage of time and the cyclical nature of memory may obscure or reinforce the scripts of gender, allowing for the possibility of reclaiming and reconfiguring one's own subjectivity. 

By assembling the work into installations, I seek to question not only the veracity of memory itself but also the performative nature of gender and the ongoing construction of selfhood. In this way, my work engages in a critical dialogue with both the past and present which seeks to unravel the fabric of fixed gendered identities and explore how memories and the things we hold onto allow us to continuously rewrite, reassemble, and perform our own identities.