Gina Pantalone

Everything Is Fine, 2021, archival inkjet print, 24 x 15.58 inches

2021 Senior Exhibition Artists

Gina Pantalone

Art + Design: Photography

About Gina Pantalone

Gina Pantalone is a photographer and fine artist based in Massachusetts. She received her B.F.A. in Photography from the College of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth in 2021, and possesses a wide skill set within the photographic medium, both digital and analog. While actively working in the creative field, she also experiments in other directions within photography and mixed media, including printmaking, and collage. Gina can be found on set in art studios and theatrical productions, as well as working within her community.

Video of Senior Photo Book

Statement

In my life journey I have realized the constant struggle of keeping it all together. I have standards for myself being able to accomplish many goals ranging from being organized, well rested, and successful. Rarely does that ever actually happen. When I add more tasks to my plate, it reaches a point where it’s overwhelming. How is it possible to accomplish these ambitious goals in perfect balance and have no stress on your back? I reflect on my everyday life as a part of society balancing all of these priorities and often failing. In the society I am living in, I see a vision of an ideal life as someone having a successful career and future, keeping life in balance and lots of friends and family surrounding them. It seems so easy to just be happy and productive all the time, but I feel that it’s a code I can’t crack. I stay up too late, I think buying bath bombs and journals are going to solve all my problems, and school takes up too much time. This standard to reach makes me feel like such a failure by the fact that I feel these goals are unattainable, given how much adversity can happen in life. I then try to put my mind in a good place for a few moments of escape, but it becomes another thing to add into my routine and I become stressed over that too. Trying to relax to put oneself in a good mindset on top of that also becomes a cycle I cannot escape. Stress is followed by relaxing, followed by more stress again. Finding escape is a constant battle I face every day.

Is it even possible to feel relaxed and take your mind off these things? I find myself taking time to step away from these stressors in order to relax. Can a person ever get that sense of peace that makes life worth living or succeeding? This project captures moments of myself going through those motions of being unable to keep life and my emotions in balance as well as trying to escape for the sake of my sanity. These photographs represent going through these emotions and the need to step away.