Jess T. Dugan, American, born 1986; Collin at Sunset, 2020; pigmented inkjet print; sheet: 30 x 40 inches; Courtesy of the artist and the Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago 2021.135; © Jess T. Dugan.
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow Lecture: Jess T. Dugan
St. Louis-based artist Jess T. Dugan, the 2020-21 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will deliver an online public lecture in conjunction with the opening of their Currents 120 exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum. The exhibition will be on view September 17, 2021 through February 20, 2022.
Dugan is known for their color photographs that explore the power of identity, desire, and connection. Currents 120 presents a selection of 20 recent works—portraits, self-portraits, and still lifes—many of which were created specifically for this exhibition. Within a framework of queer and nonbinary experience and from an actively constructed sense of masculinity, Dugan’s portraits examine intersections between individual identity and the search for intimate connection with others.
The photographs on display are part of Dugan’s ongoing project Every Breath We Drew, which began in 2011. The project is both outward looking and self-expressive, representing inclusive notions of gender and sexuality and examining intimate connection as a means of seeing oneself through the eyes of others. While Dugan’s work over the past decade has been made primarily in private, interior spaces, recent photographs also include St. Louis individuals and couples outdoors in natural environments. In a break from their earlier work, these portraits reveal a more expansive sense of space and a changed color palette while offering exploration of landscape.
Dugan uses medium-format cameras, natural light, and a slow working method to bridge traditional photographic practices with contemporary subjects. They draw influence from portrait painting, using light, color, gesture, and pose to imbue photographs with emotional and psychological intensity.
Currents 120: Jess T. Dugan is curated by Hannah Klemm, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum; and Eric Lutz, associate curator of prints, drawings, and photographs; with Molly Moog, research assistant for modern and contemporary art.
About the Artist
Dugan’s work explores issues of identity through photographic portraiture. Their work has been widely exhibited and is in the permanent collections of over 35 museums, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; the International Center of Photography; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among many others. Dugan’s monographs include To Survive on This Shore and Every Breath We Drew (2015).
Dugan is recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and an International Center of Photography Infinity Award and was selected by the Obama White House as an LGBT Artist Champion of Change. In 2015, they founded the Strange Fire Artist Collective to highlight work made by women, people of color and LGBTQ artists. They are represented by the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago.
Born in Biloxi, Miss., Dugan earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2007; a master’s degree in museum studies from Harvard University in 2010; and a master’s in photography from Columbia College Chicago in 2014.