​My moving image work grows from my artistic motivations to blend my interests in the cinematic arts with feminist theory and creative writing. My art, image-based and non-linear, experiments with narrative, offers a handmade quality that is non-objective in nature and merges the visual form of cinema with literary forms like poetry and memoir. I imagine this process as weaving images with subjectivity, tone, and mood. Thus, the camera for me is an extension of my mind and body, where I produce diarist, lyrical, and somatic art. 

​I tend to work alone, with filming, editing and recording my own films, though some of my projects are created through intimate collaborations. 
Drawing in the Moment (2017) (9 minutes 54 seconds)
A collaborative video musing by Anita White and Jes Reyes. It documents the intuitive artistic process of artist Anita White. More than a music video, this experimental moving image project is a poetic exploration and journey of looking within and using drawing to appreciate various moments in life. From meeting strangers to processing difficult health challenges, the art and music from Anita express compassion and humor. The video shows how she uses drawings as a way to navigate and sanctify everyday moments.  Her pen and open sketchbook allow her to receive and honor what comes her way with joy and wonder. 
Music, lyrics, and art by Anita White. Camera and editing by Jes Reyes
Premiered September 7, 2017 with Feminist Video Quarterly as part of Sound Unseen at the Bryant Lake Bowl in Minneapolis. More details here. Screened March 26, 2018 with The Mespies. More details here.
Beneath the Skin (2016) 6 min: 36 seconds
Beneath the Skin explores the ongoing tenderness I feel towards the loss of my mother. It gets to the heart of my grief by exploring how my deepest memories lay beneath my skin. They flow in waves, appear distorted and can take over my mind when I am least expecting it. 
Components ​(2015) 4 min: 11 seconds 
A silent and short video poem collaboration made with Katie Rensch. Components layers moving image with word, and explores how our bodies intersect the man-made and natural world. To speak to these two worlds, an artistic voice emerges to translate what the body feels and what the body says to its segmented existence. 
The Wind of Our Body (2015) 2 min: 41 seconds
A collaborative video poem made with Katie Rensch. The Wind of Our Body explores how the individual body, at times fragmented and enigmatic, attempts to communicate within the larger space of our society. As the body moves, a nonverbal language emerges that gives wind to our true emotional selves, a language that crosses barriers and accepts our at times, untranslatable world. 

Loss from jes reyes on Vimeo.

Loss (2015) 2 min: 24 sec
The first in a series of videos which explore words and the emotions and experiences behind them. It explores the last moments I had with my mother before she passed away the next morning.
A Mind of Winter (2014) 6 min: 17 sec
A collaboration with Katie Rensch
A Mind of Winter explores our human relationship with the natural world and our society’s attempt to push against seasonal change. This film asks viewers to consider their physical and emotional connection with nature.
Jean Says Videos 
(2007-2008)
25 Videos
a play in persona making

Student films

Here, Mom (2014) 11 min: 11 sec
A daughter pensively remembers her mother, the life they have shared, and explores the little time they have left together. Here, Mom is a student film.
Never Alone  (2014) 
1 min: 28 sec
1945 (2013) 
4 min: 52 sec
Yellow House (2013) 
4 min : 24 sec
Yellow House exhibited December 21, 2013 - March 28, 2014, as part of Artists in Storefronts 5: Cineteca program.