Jesseca Ferguson > June 2009 – Featured Pinhole Photographer

Jesseca Ferguson
is a pinhole photographer,
living, working and teaching
in Boston, Massachusetts

“The poetic aspects of pinhole photography are what draw me to it. Although the pinhole camera is ‘blind,’ because it has no viewfinder or lens, I find that it ‘sees’ in mysterious ways. The pinhole camera’s ‘sight’ grants infinite depth of field to the object and images before it, thus allowing us to see the camera’s pinhole vision, which is characterized by the odd clarity of dreams or memory.

Working in my home studio and using only natural light, my exposures often take several hours. I then contact print my images on artists paper using 19th century processes. Often I collage my pinhole images onto antique book boards, incorporating snippets of text and time-stained papers. The resulting ‘photo object’ alludes to the passage of time, and to that private interior library which I believe serves as a paradigm for collective and personal memory.

My work is slow, hand-built, and cumulative, rather like the layering of dust or memories over time.”

CK → It is my pleasure to announce Jesseca Ferguson as the June 2009 pinhole photographer feature. Not only is she a pinhole photographer, but she was also responsible for co-curating, with Walter Crump the amazing collection of pinhole photos exhibited in 2007 called Made in Poland: Contemporary Pinhole Photography, an exhibition of seven pinhole photographers from Poland. After viewing the pinhole photos of Andrzej Bogacz, Tomasz Dobiszewski, Danuta Gibka, Jaroslaw Klups, Georgia Krawiec, Marek Noniewicz, and Edyta Wypierowska, you will find them to be an impressive group of artists. It is my honor to be able to showcase some of Jesseca’s pinhole photos as the June 2009 pinhole photographer feature. Thanks, Jesseca, and I wish you all the best in the future wherever your creative path leads you.

Please note that Jesseca is the American contact for “American Metaphor/Metafory Amerikanskie,” a show of work by eight American pinhole photographers, scheduled for November 12 – December 31, 2009 at Galeria Pusta in Katowice, PL. (This show is part of OFFO 2009, a pinhole photography festival taking place throughout about 50 galleries in Southern Poland.)

Circus horse/mirror (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Bird/astronomy book (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Finis (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Excerptt (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Italian Woman/profile, 10x8 in. print - pinhole photograph, collage

Bird/book/Paris (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Anatomical head (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

Reading Lesson XV, 10x8 in. print - pinhole photograph, collage

Bottle/spiral/moths, 10x8 in. print - pinhole photograph, collage

Blue E (constructed) - pinhole photograph, collage

I hope and plan to feature more Polish pinhole photographers in the future, so please check back for new updates. -Thanks Chris

All photos copyright © 2009 Jesseca Ferguson and Reproduced by Permission