Phee’s Jefferies’ practice is an exploration of the absurdity surrounding human existence. In philosophy the absurd refers to the conflict between humanity’s tendency to seek meaning in life or to find a reason for our existence, being met with the silent answer of a meaningless and non-rational universe.
What fascinates her about this idea is that humans create this contradiction, therefore causing their own existence to be absurd. Through her art, Jefferies wants to challenge the viewers’ expectations of what they are looking at and what the human body looks like, and present them with something they may feel familiar with but at the same time disconnected from, therefore inviting them to think deeply about what it is to be human. In Phee’s Skin series, which consists of video and photography, The Artist manipulated her own skin with latex.
“I manipulated my own skin with latex in an attempt to reflect this idea of absurdity and inner human conflict outwardly onto the skin.”