Jennifer Lugris

“Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise
above himself, may grow beyond himself, and by so doing change himself. He may turn a
personal tragedy into a triumph.” – Viktor Frankl

The human spirit is resilient. Inspired by Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, this
exhibition engages with the interplay between adversity and transformation. A Holocaust
survivor and psychologist, Frankl’s seminal text explores hardship not as an impediment
but as a catalyst for profound growth.

In my paintings, plants are metaphors for perseverance and transformation. Just as a seed
must push through the darkness of the soil before it can bloom, we, too, must navigate
challenges to realize our full potential. Whether scaling Everest, mastering an instrument,
or navigating the complexities of motherhood, meaningful pursuits demand courage,
sacrifice, and surrender to the unknown.

At its core, this body of work is an invocation of inherited fortitude. As the descendant of
North Korean refugees as well as exiles of Argentina and Uruguay’s military regimes, I
engage with an ancestral lineage of survival and reinvention. My parents’ and
grandparents’ endurance reverberates through my practice, manifesting as an urgent call
to embrace uncertainty with conviction. To lean into the strength encoded in our histories.
To trust that in struggle, we are becoming.