Biography
Jenny Petite (born 1975, Washington State, USA) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. Working across photographic media, oil on canvas, and wood, she is best known for her postmodernist and poststructuralist approach to visual narrative. Through her artistic practice, Petite explores how signifiers precede and construct both reality and memory, reconfiguring temporal frames to interrogate the tension between originality and perception. Her oeuvre, often rooted in self-portraiture, presents an intellectual inquiry into the fluidity of identity, representation, and visual history.
Petite’s work is characterized by a sophisticated interplay between light, form, and self-representation. In her photographic and painted compositions, she dematerializes the presence of light, thereby dissolving the boundaries between the camera’s focus, her own image, and the surrounding subjects. This visual ambiguity emphasizes the relational dynamics between the artist and her environment, allowing familiar recurring characters to serve as symbolic anchors of introspection and continuity. Notable among her projects are Venus of Suburbia, Paris Nuit, Modern Renaissance – A Revival of Self, and Van Gogh Recreations—series that collectively reflect her commitment to deconstructing the authenticity of memory and recontextualizing art historical references within contemporary discourse.
Jenny Petite has exhibited widely across the United States, with notable presentations at the Nashville International Airport; Solo Exhibition at Main St Gallery, Nashville (2023); Maximalist at CEV Art Gallery, Arizona (2025); and Frida Inspired Exhibit at the Mount Dora Center of Arts, Florida. Her works are held in private collections internationally, attesting to the resonance of her conceptual and aesthetic inquiry. Through her ongoing projects, Petite continues to examine the mutable relationship between perception, memory, and the evolving self within the continuum of art history.
CV
Education
2023 Master of Fine Arts / Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA
2018 Bachelor of Arts / Visual Communication / Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA
2012 Associates of Arts / Visual Communications / Photography, Nashville State Community College, USA
2000 Associates of Arts / Music / Emphasis Vocal, Bellevue College, USA
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 Flying Solo, Nashville International Airport, Nashville, TN
Solos17 Exhibition, Affiliate of Artsy, Online
2021 Solo Exhibition Vita Grandioso, Main St Gallery, Nashville, TN
2015 Solo Exhibition, Ron Sweeney Art Gallery, Nashville, TN
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Spirit of Frida Kahlo Art Competition and Exhibition, Mount Dora Center for Arts, Mount Dora, FL
Cromer Open, Cromer Artspace, North Norfolk, England
The Maximalist, CEVA Art Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
Circles, Squares and Triangles, Exhibition Zone, Online
2024 Square Photography Exhibit, Decode Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2019 Music City Art Show, Music City Fencing Club, Nashville, TN
2018 Fifty Forward Winter Exhibition, Fifty Forward Gallery, Nashville, TN
Selected Collections
Permanent Collection, Chambre 12, La Residence, Lacoste, France
Permanent Collection, SCAD Atlanta, GA
Selected Press
Vita Grandioso Book, 2025
Artistonish Contemporary Art Magazine, Dec 2024
US Fencing Magazine, 2019–2023
The Extravagant Book, 2022
The Tennessean Newspaper
CMT Magazine, 2014
Nashville Arts Magazine, 2019
The Scene Magazine, 2015–2018
Native Magazine, 2013
Nashville Parent Magazine, 2013
Watertown Gazette Publication, 2013
Pierce County Newspaper, 2013
Fifty Forward Magazine, 2013
Mount Juliet Chronicles, 2013
Nashville Ballet Publication
Dance Magazine, 2013
Nashville Children’s Theater Publication, 2013
Brandywine Publication, 2013
The Quarters Publication, 2012
Professional Contributions
2014 – 25 Owner / Operator, Jenny Petite Photography Studio and Production, Nashville, TN
2021 – 24 Assistant Photographer, Allen Clark Photography, Nashville, TN
2019 – 24 Photographer / Writer, USA Fencing, Colorado Springs, CO
2014 – 21 In-House Photographer, Larry Keaton Theater, Nashville, TN