INTERVIEW WITH PHOTOGRAPHER JESS DUGAN
What are some of the reasons you chose photography as your main artistic expression?
I make photographs because I have to. It is the way in which I relate to the world around me, and the way in which I am able to know and understand myself. I primarily photograph people, and my camera functions as a way to get to know a wide and diverse group of people very intimately. One of the things I love about photography is that is gives me a reason and medium to explore absolutely anything I am interested in. My camera functions as an access card in many ways, giving me a reason and opportunity to know someone or something in a very personal way.
My first real photographs, taken at age 16, were of my fellow queer and gender variant friends and peers. I was just learning how to use my camera and technically, the images were not very good, but the process of making this work was my first experience with the power of exploring identity through photography.
Do you identify as a “trans artist” and, if so, do you see it as limiting? Why or why not?
This is something I grapple with a lot. I actually don’t really solidly identify as a “trans” person. I consider myself to be gender variant, and I am a part of the trans community, but all of the labels feel limiting to me. I am not transitioning from one thing to another, but rather on a more fluid path of shifting gender expressions that feel closer and closer to who I am. So maybe I’m F-to-me.
A lot of my work is made within the transgender community, and I very strongly feel that I am a part of this community and as such, approach photographing trans and gender variant folks differently than someone outside of the community might. Ultimately, though, my photographs have to be about much more than someone’s identity to be successful. I want the viewer to first relate to my subjects as fellow people- to have a connection with them on a purely human level, whether or not they recognize that they are looking at a trans person. I want my images to portray the complicated and universal experience of being human.
In terms of the art world, I do think it can be limiting to be labeled as a “trans artist,” or to be perceived as such. Though a lot of my work deals with gender and identity, many of my projects are not specifically trans related. Again, if I feel that my work is successful, it will operate on many levels, perhaps appealing to the specific community in which it is made but also appealing to a much broader audience on a more universal level.
What informs your decision to shoot in certain settings, with certain people?
Choosing who and where to photograph tends to be a fairly instinctual decision. I often work within certain parameters, such as a location or subject matter, but ultimately it is all about making compelling portraits. I try to find settings that increase the intimacy of the connection between me and my subject and also make a visually compelling picture. I told someone recently that finding subjects is just like attraction in terms of dating, etc. I was asked why I’m drawn to certain people, and I said, “I don’t know, I’m just photo-attracted to them.” There is something about them that I find interesting or compelling, something about them that makes me want to spend time with them, and ultimately, to spend time looking at them.
You have shown your work in galleries and museums, can you give aspiring photographers some pointers on getting to where you are now?
First, I’d say make work that you’re passionate about. The passion has to start with you. It is difficult to make work and to pursue a life as an artist, so it has to be something that completely inspires and compels you. My gallery director always tells me that she wants to work with people for whom making photographs is something they simply have to do- a compulsion, if you will, to create and to make meaning out of their world through photography.
Second, participate in the world around you. Go to openings. Meet people. Look at the work of other photographers you admire. Identify people who are successful in the ways you want to be successful and figure out how they got there.
Once you’ve got work that you’re ready to share, apply for group shows, attend portfolio reviews, submit to online photography blogs, etc. Do whatever you can to get your work out there into venues that feel appropriate for you. And above it all, keep making work that you’re excited about.
Bio: Jess T. Dugan is a large-format portrait photographer whose work explores issues of gender, identity, and shared humanity. Born in Mississippi and raised in Arkansas, Jess then spent twelve years in Boston, Massachusetts, where studied photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and Museum Studies at Harvard University. She currently lives in Chicago, IL and is pursuing her MFA in photography at Columbia College Chicago. Jess’s photographs are regularly exhibited nationwide and are in the permanent collection of the Harvard Art Museums and the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts. Jess is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston, MA and the Schneider Gallery in Chicago, IL.
For more info please visit the website: http://www.jessdugan.com/