Jessica Bernard is a photographic artist based in London. Her work treads a line between fine art and documentary.

‘My father was bullied in his office job, when I was a child. He developed schizophrenia and never went back to work.’ Bernard began photographing team-building activities in corporate spaces in 2013. Her work taps into incongruous moments, when suited professionals are asked to engage in surreal and playful activities under the watchful gaze of their employers. ‘Over time I have drawn a link between these photographs and my father’s experiences. In these photographs, I see a physical manifestation of his disorientation. People are stretched, changed and forced to encounter multiple versions of themselves.’ The photographs urge us to confront the roles her subjects play, at the behest of others. ‘The workplace thrusts them into an absurd, artificial new world. They suddenly leave a state of greyness and conformity, of rules and procedures, in which they are presentable ambassadors of their organisations. They have to be a different person altogether.’

Jessica Bernard is interested in the line between art and documentary. Her work mines the real world in search of unsettling and uncomfortable situations to photograph. Her photographs can be seen as a physical manifestation of disorientation.