Haunting photographs from the underground artist The Film Bruja

‘Coco Mamba’

‘Coco Mamba’

By Delilah Vera

Artfront Galleries presents the works of photographer, Sheena Ocot, The Film Bruja. The opening for her first solo photo exhibit will be held on Saturday, February 2 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Newark, N.J.

The event will include music by DJs Luv, Paisley and Def Dom. In addition, Sheena collaborated with her go-to lab, Old School Photo (Dover, New Hampshire) who kindly printed her work. New Jersey Beer Company (North Bergen, NJ) will be donating beer for the event, and StickEm Up (Newark, NJ) will help with the vinyl installation for the window. In keeping with the “imaginative flair” theme of the show, many of Ocot’s creative portraits, street photography and her signature Halloween shoots will be on display.

Long before the makeup artist-turned-photographer was known as The Film Bruja, she cemented herself as somewhat of a living legend in New Jersey’s underground scene and a fixture in Newark’s burgeoning, underrecognized art scene. “Sheena She,” as she is adoringly known by her many followers and supporters, has always had a taste for “otherness,” a quality she is often able to capture in her haunting portraits.

She began building her portfolio through her blog, Chainsaws & Jelly, an aptly named, visual amalgamation of its creator which has since evolved to include a podcast on Newark.fm. Since then, her work has been published on Frank151, she has received notoriety from Complex.com for another project blog dubbed Queen of Antisocial, where she began posting all her 35mm film work. She was commissioned by Tumblr to shoot New York Fashion Week fall/winter 2016 and was also an organizer for Unity in Color shoot in 2017 for the city of Newark.

‘Enrique's Invisible Friend’

‘Enrique’s Invisible Friend’

Sheena shoots only on film, giving her already nuanced shots another layer of warmth and mystery. She has an eye for grittiness that never seems forced, exposing scenes of artists at work, skateboarders, friends turned models and everyone in the in-between. Complex.com placed her work on top 100 blogs to know in 2015 for Queen of Antisocial, but Sheena’s personality is warm and engaging and it shows in her ability to bring her subjects to their most vulnerable states. From Dia de los Muertos feasts and ghost town roads covered in graffiti to underground hip hop shows, there is a subtly to her work that is inexplicably haunting yet simultaneously inviting.

Her pieces will be on display at Artfront Galleries located at 1 Bloomfield Place in Newark from February 2 to February 9. You may schedule a private viewing.

(C) The FilAm 2019

‘Psychic’

‘Psychic’


‘Mother Nature’

‘Mother Nature’



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