Jana Perez
IN MEMORIAM [1966 – 2021]
Jana C. Perez was the fearless leader of Agency 50, formerly High Bandwidth, for five years. In 2015, she became the Director of Operations, assembling a dynamic creative team from her roster of design students. She turned us into a powerhouse, full-service agency by instilling discipline and systems that enabled us to compete with ad agencies 20 times our size.
Soon, we were doing business with some of the largest companies in the country. Jana made sure we kept our clients happy and our creatives energized. She empowered our team to be dedicated, innovative, and passionate about what we do every single day. Jana made us become the best version of ourselves. She created a legacy and culture for us that will live on; she will always be our Director of Operations.
A Legendary Artist, Educator, and Colleague
Jana C. Perez was a professional artist, graphic designer, photographer, and former educator. Research interests included advertised ideas of female identity and beauty, graphic design education, and branding. Her personal work often used humor and satire to draw attention to serious concepts and issues.
Jana’s design work was recognized by Adweek, The Dallas Advertising League, The American Advertising Federation of Fort Worth, Graphic Design USA, and UCDA.
Her fine art photography was featured in juried, invitational, and solo exhibitions nationwide including the 4th Annual Photography Biennial, the ReFresh Print Biennial I, Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Art Basel Miami, The Fitton Center for the Arts, and The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science.
Jana C. Perez also collaborated with Angilee Wilkerson on an extensive body of work titled, Perform La Femme. These collaborative works with Angilee were among the last photographs Jana created. Their series of color images utilizes environmental landscapes along with visual narrative to create performative self-portraits that explore fantasy, dreams, and time—defying tropes and stereotypes around aging and beauty. The works from this collaboration were exhibited at Dallas’ Bath House Cultural Center, Art Room in Fort Worth, as well as Flow Art Space in St. Maul, Minnesota, and the Houston Assistance League’s 2015 Art Show.
Jana C. Perez [1966 – 2021]
by Christopher Blay | February 2, 2021
Artist and photographer Jana Perez, part of the Denton, Texas duo Perform La Femme, has died. She was 55. Perez was diagnosed with cancer last year, successfully beating the disease after a year of fighting it, and according to “best friend, creative collaborator and business partner” Angilee Wilkerson, died from complications after contracting Covid-19. At the time of her death, Perez was Director of Operations at High Bandwidth, and before that Associate Professor of Graphic Design at Texas Woman’s University in Denton.
In Jana’s Honor
Donations may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospitals in Jana’s name.