Photoville

This work was created between 2020–2023 and consists of images of my partner Zoe. Depicted in this series are intimate moments drawn from our everyday life, with all its gifts and struggles. Interior scenes from the onset of the coronavirus pandemic are interlaced with images of celebrations, travel, and home-building. Zoe’s gaze, at times despondent and at others tenderly hopeful, offers reflections of my own state of mind. The camera, by freezing a moment in time, allows me to build a personal history. The result is a constellation of longing, hope, and desire through the memorialization of small details and gestures. In doing so over the course of several years, a poetic visual map is revealed with which to understand the twists and turns of life. Reflections on Harbour, is named so because of the work’s connection to Staten Island, where Zoe was raised and where we were able to find home. Historically, the functional purpose of a harbor is to provide a space of exchange. The word harbour in terms of this project (with UK English spelling to emphasize the word our within harbour), is intended to imply a metaphorical place of dialogue in a relationship: a place of refuge.

Artist Bios

  • Jean Marques

    Jean Marques is a Cuban-American artist and photographer based in Staten island, NY. In 2019 they graduated with an MFA in Photography and Related Media from Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). They have been making and exhibiting work since 2015. Their work has been exhibited in galleries in New York (Gallery Q and The William Harris gallery in Rochester, NY), Florida (Miami Zine Fair, Miami, FL), and Oregon (Black Box Gallery in Portland, OR). In 2018 they received the “John Pfahl Scholarship” for their work in Graduate School, as well as winning the “Best Filmmakers Award” in the Short Attention Span Film Festival at William Harris Gallery, RIT.

Organizations

  • The Alice Austen House

    The Alice Austen House

    A vibrant cultural center, the Alice Austen House keeps the bold spirit of the early American photographer alive by presenting changing exhibitions of Austen’s pioneering historic photographs and of contemporary photography, providing education programs for students, offering a range of cultural programs for the public.

Reflections on Harbour

 archive : 2023

Featuring: Jean Marques

Curated by: Victoria Munro

Presented by: The Alice Austen House
  • The Alice Austen House

Supported by:

  • NYC Parks

Locations

View Location Details Alice Austen House

2 Hylan Blvd
Staten Island, NY 10305

Number 83 on the official photoville map Click to download this year's map
  • Monday -
  • Tuesday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Wednesday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Thursday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Friday 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  • Saturday -
  • Sunday -

This website was made possible thanks to the generous support and partnership of Photowings