// hail mary, marie, martyr //

“hail mary, marie, martyr started out as a 5 minute audio piece I made one night in the spring of 2019. After moving back to Boston and the recent sale of my childhood home, I inherited the vhs tapes my father took on every “significant” and many not so “significant” days in the first decade of my life. I stayed up one night watching and cutting tape, piecing together sounds of my childhood that had stayed vibrant in my memory and self-mythology. 

My experience is a collage of thoughts, memories, and the present. In my work, I exorcise the sounds resonating in my head by traveling to where they are stored and getting curious. It is a devotional practice to Time. In hail mary, marie, martyr I invite you to join me in the ritual. 

The piece comprises three acts: ab aeterno (00:00-11:41), all the fathers 11:42-16:02, and we are also divine (16:03-23:03). Each examines a part of my life and what I was taught to think about women, girls, and anyone with the potential or perceived potential to give birth. In the video, I’m performing a ritual to shed those narratives. You are participating. Doesn’t it feel good and healing not to objectify the woman in the bath?

I composed ab aeterno and all the fathers using family archive, samples from pop culture from 1987-1997, excerpts from recorded conversations with my partner, diary entries, spoken word, and original music. 

we are also divine was created for the HALE Collective in Chicago in April 2020 after multiple Republican governors tried to end access to abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic. It features personal abortion stories told and recorded by Maleeha Aziz, Nick (last name redacted), and Nik Zaleski, as well as news reports, my own documentary recordings, and other archival tape.”

Jenn Stanley is a time-based artist from New England who lives in Allston with her husband and two cats. She’s also an audio producer, reporter, and writer; you can frequently find her work at WBUR’s The ARTery. Before moving back to New England, she lived in Chicago where she made CHOICE/LESS, a documentary podcast about reproductive and sexual health and justice. 

She’s the co-founder of coven/convene, a new community and digital event space for witchy, time-based, & esoteric arts, grounded in ritual with the intention to heal together and cultivate joy. 

You can see more of Jenn’s work via her site: www.Jenn-Stanley.com

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coven/convene I: the shadow; Oct. 29

Join Jenn Stanley & see more of her work via coven/convene’s event coven/convene I: the shadow, taking place virtually on October 29.

Learn more & purchase tickets via Eventbrite:

www.eventbrite.com/covenconvene-i-the-shadow-tickets

coven/convene is a livestream sonic event grounded in ritual and healing arts to explore the shadows, build community, and cultivate joy.

Note: we recommend viewing video with headphones in full screen mode at highest quality setting available.