SLEEVE ON

MY HEART

A black and white image showing a geometric, abstract pattern of interconnected lines and circles resembling a network or molecular structure.

Art gallery with black and white photographs on white walls and a white pedestal in the center with a vase of red and purple flowers.

Art gallery with black and white framed photos on white walls and a flower vase on a pedestal in the center.

Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia PA 2014

https://voxpopuligallery.org/exhibitions/sleeve-on-my-heart/

Sleeve On My Heart

is a photographic project, exhibition, and photobook by Jay Muhlin exploring winter, domestic space, memory, vulnerability, and emotional attachment.

Made during a long Philadelphia winter, the work moves through quiet interiors, everyday objects, animals, and moments of affection and unease. The photographs create a familiar but unstable world where comfort, loneliness, humor, and mystery exist side by side.

The project was exhibited at Vox Populi Gallery in 2014 and presented through framed silver gelatin prints, a calendar, poem, and photobook.

A young girl with light-colored hair and bangs looking at a plate of spaghetti noodles with sauce on a table.

Six small snow-covered Christmas trees on a dark wooden table, with two small carving tools in the foreground.

I endured an uncelebrated winter: half buried in wall-to-wall, kneeling under ceilings within reach. These images are moments from my orbit through the slowest days and coldest nights, surrounding myself with what matters most. This work was exhibited in a solo show at Vox Populi Gallery in February 2014, selected prints were exhibited at the Woodmere Art Museum, Sunshine Art Gallery, and won the Esther & Harvey Graiter Memorial Prize. This series of prints was also made into a photobook.

A small, frost-covered tree on a sidewalk at night, illuminated by a camera flash, with a dark background and a wall to the right.

Black and white book cover titled "Sleeve On My Heart" by Jay Muhlin, featuring three textured trees on a wooden surface with a plain background.

Press

Vox Populi reflects with sunsets, mythology, cabin fever and more

https://knightfoundation.org/articles/vox-populi-muhlin-dumlao-prince-duzer/

“Muhlin’s photographs are at first glance quite conservative – unsaturated and almost documentary-like. But similar to a Lynch film whose premise at first seems tame or tangible, after a bit of inspection the images begin to lose touch with the stable and concrete. Black cats brushing power outlets, discarded Christmas trees aside lights of mysterious origin, and mounted animal heads all offer glimpses into a world that is simultaneously benign and bizarre.”

– CSchwartz

Black microwave oven with a small cup reflected on its glass door, labeled 'HOTPOINT'.

A mounted animal head, resembling a dog or wolf, on a wooden plaque, with Christmas lights and ornaments below.

Close-up of a black dog with its tail curled, facing a wall outlet on a white wall.

Last Year For Tomorrow

Calendar Preview

Calendar for the Sleeve On My Heart exhibit.

Next & Last in Trilogy …

KID

A young girl with brown hair, wearing a pink shirt, crouches on the grass outdoors, observing carrots growing in the ground surrounded by green bushes.