Since 2017, Hensler has concentrated on her own creative work, creating art films, directing music videos, and continuing to incorporate costume into her art. She was credited as creative director on a short film produced by Stella McCartney and David Lynch titled Curtains Up, as part of a project funded by the David Lynch Foundation, to highlight the power and effects of Transcendental Meditation.[4][17] Hensler also created "Garden of Ants," an art film that explores themes of innocence and abuse, with an original music score by Chelsea Wolfe and Alex Zhang Hungtai of Dirty Beaches.[2] She was the fashion director for techno DJ Black Asteroid's video "Tangiers," featuring Michèle Lamy, the wife and muse of fashion designer Rick Owens.[18] Hensler has directed music videos for artists such as Zola Jesus, Chelsea Wolfe, and Liz Lamere, the long-time collaborator and wife of Alan Vega of the synth-punk duo Suicide.[19]
Visual art
In 2017, Hensler presented her first art exhibition, a multi-sensory live installation at New York's James Fuentes Gallery, titled Persona Somnia I (Latin for "Dream Persona"). The exhibition featured Spanish performance artist María Forqué suspended from the ceiling by intricately knotted shibari ropes, accompanied by an ambient soundscape.[20][21][22] Hensler described it as "a visual, sonic and tactile exploration of a kaleidoscopic, fragmented self as it merges into a whole,"[23] and elaborated that "the exhibit explores the act of viewing as a reciprocal one... We experience ourselves as living mirrors of each other."[24]
Hensler is also a creator of art films, including Garden of Ants, a work exploring themes of innocence and abuse, with an original music score by Chelsea Wolfe and Alex Zhang Hungtai of Dirty Beaches.[2] Her work in this medium has further expanded into a blend of film, performance, and installation art.[1] She often incorporates her costume design into these projects, blending different artistic disciplines into visual narratives.[25][22] Prior to her exhibition at James Fuentes Gallery, Hensler shared a residency space at the Park Avenue Armory, where she developed new work and expanded her artistic practice.[23]
In addition to her art films, Hensler is a published photographer, working primarily with 35mmfilm. She takes candid portraits of people, often in black-and-white or highly saturatedmonochromatic colors, using dramatic chiaroscurolighting techniques. This can be seen in the series of a portraits she did for the July 2019 issue of Nasty Magazine.[26] Her photographic work was also featured in the second issue of We Understand the Future magazine from Basel, Switzerland, in September 2024.[27]
Directing
Hensler has directed and co-directed numerous music videos. She co-directed Chelsea Wolfe's video for the song "Hypnos,"[28] and synth-pop singer Zola Jesus' video for the song "Ash to Bone."[29][30][31] She individually directed indie folk singer Marissa Nadler's "If I Could Breathe Underwater,"[32] Zola Jesus' "The Fall,"[33]Kronos Quartet and Ghost Train Orchestra's "High on a Rocky Ledge,"[34] and the video for "Lights Out" by electronic artist Liz Lamere.[19] In addition to those, she directed rapper Johnny Based's video for the song "Virus,"[35] Liz Lamere's video for "Sin,"[36] and psychedelic folk singer November Girl's video for "Beam Me Up."[37]
Hensler's costume and styling work can be seen in numerous music videos by a variety of artists, such as in the Chelsea Wolfe videos for the songs "Carrion Flowers,"[39] "16 Psyche,"[40] "Flatlands,"[41][42] "Spun,"[43] and "Be All Things,"[44] and she has created stage costumes for Wolfe's concert tours and festival appearances.[23][45] Hensler costume designed and styled the Zola Jesus videos for "Dangerous Days,"[46] "Seekir,"[47][48] "Hunger,"[49] "Nail,"[50][51] and "Exhumed,"[52] and the Marissa Nadler videos for "Blue Vapor"[13] and "Dissolve," the latter of which was produced for Pitchfork.tv.[53] In addition to those, Hensler styled the electronic musician Black Marble's video for the song "Cruel Summer,"[54] Australian electronic act HTRK's video for the song "Chinatown Style,"[55]indie pop band Lower Dens' video for the song "Real Thing,"[56] and the video for the collaboration between Dutch composer Jozef van Wissem and American filmmaker-composer Jim Jarmusch for their minimalist classical music piece "Etimasia."[57] She appeared in the Chelsea Wolfe video for "Spun,"[43] and in the HTRK videos for "Chinatown Style"[55] and "New Year's Day," which was directed by collaborator Nathan Corbin.[58]
The vision behind Hensler's art, films, and installations draws on and incorporates elements of diverse eras, visual traditions, and movements, such as magic realism and dark surrealism, esoteric and occult symbology, Japanese minimalism, ancient Egypt, and classical mythology, as various Greco-Roman motifs, shapes, and silhouettes appear throughout her work.[60][6] She describes herself as being inspired by the Jungian concept of archetypes that inhabit humanity's collective unconscious,[1] and she has said, "Creating a dream world in the waking world is a major part of what I like to do,"[23] "[m]ixing dreams with reality... One of my passions is to create ways to take others into this place. To open a part of the psyche and create a dream-like psychedelic experience which connects everyone using minimal elements."[1] According to one fashion commentator, Hensler "creates wearable works of art, melding mysticism and ethereal beauty with the strict order of natural science."[16]
Hensler favors an aesthetic that projects female power, mystery, and eroticism. The looks she created as a designer and stylist alternate between or juxtapose voluminous dresses, cloaks, and sleeves with bare skin and tight-fitting pieces, and she has made wearable sculptures from wood, metal, PVC, and leather, often paired with large-sole boots or shoes, and accented with headpieces, veils, and jewelry.[8][25][61] She has created wearable sculptures using LED lights[15][16][62] and has hand-painted directly onto fabric as well.[30] She has been said to create esoteric, "borderline-spiritual looks [that] seem to draw inspiration from the occult, fetish wear, and fantasy."[23] Her designers of choice, who serve as influences on some of her signature looks, include Thierry Mugler, Maison Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, and A.F. Vandevorst.[63][64][65][66][67]
^ abGiovi, Elisabetta (May 6, 2015). "Jenni Hensler – Visual Stories". Wobblin' Betty Keeps Wobblin'. Milan, Italy. Archived from the original on September 25, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2019.
^Wolfe, Chelsea (September 1, 2024). "Guest Curator: Chelsea Wolfe". WUF We Understand the Future. No. 2. Basel, Switzerland: WUF We Understand The Future. p. 52. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
^ abHTRK (July 22, 2014). "Chinatown Style". ghostlyintl YouTube channel. New York, NY. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
^Lower Dens (September 12, 2016). "Real Thing". RibbonMusic YouTube channel. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
^Jozef Van Wissem and Jim Jarmusch (November 11, 2013). "Etimasia". Sacred Bones Records YouTube channel. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
^HTRK (December 21, 2020). "New Year's Day". HTRK YouTube channel. New York, NY. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
^"Projects: The Puppet Man". Los Angeles, CA: Sundance Institute. January 22, 2016. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved September 29, 2019.
