About

Joanne Dugan is a visual artist who lives and works in New York City. 

Her current practice involves the use of traditional silver-based analog photographic materials to explore photography as a physical medium, with the photographic darkroom as a key component in the creation process. Her three-dimensional unique-image works utilize hand-cutting techniques, chemical alterations, multiple exposures and vintage materials. The works explore and pay homage to the physical limitations and opportunities found in traditional photographic techniques and materials, while also seeking to reinterpret their potential for mindfulness-based creation in a digital age. 

Inspired by the Tantric yantra (a form of mystical diagram), the series Multiples explores visual renderings of mindfulness concepts, using altered traditional analog photographic materials in unconventional ways to create groupings that directly refer historic photographic techniques, while also examining the visual impact of repetitive, unique handmade images as contemplative, modern objects.  

The series, Turning Point, focuses on the electric lights of New York City as sole subject. The works are shot on analog film and feature deeply layered abstractions of multiple exposures, made over many hours and even days. The project began immediately following the six-day blackout during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and focuses on the geographic areas in New York City where Thomas Edison first provided electric light in Manhattan. 

Joanne’s images have been exhibited in the United States, Germany, Amsterdam and Japan. They are part of many public and private collections and have been featured in The New York Times T Magazine and the Harvard Review.