JesseClark_Headshot2024-2

JESSE CLARK

PHOTOGRAPHER

Jesse Clark is Haitian-American photographer based in Florida. Clark recently received his B.F.A. in Photography and Imaging from Ringling College of Art + Design in 2023. Clark’s work can be described as vibrant and poetic, with its soft visualizations of Black identity and beauty. Juxtaposed with the pastel architecture and landscapes of Florida in which he resided are soft and intimate details of the Black body. Clark uses his work as a form of healing and visual activism as he challenges the misrepresentations of Blackness perpetuated by American media.  Clark’s photography is a reflection of the beauty he sees within those around him and once struggled to see within himself. His work has been exhibited at MARA Gallery,  SPAACES Gallery, Art Center Sarasota, and he recently held his first international solo show at Space Place Gallery in Russia February 2024. Clark has also been featured in WEDU-PBS, Stories To Change The World–International Activist Collection, Cultured Magazine, Lensculture, PhotoVogue and was selected by Aperture as one of twenty “outstanding artists to be recognized”. Jesse Clark is also a recipient of the U.S. Fulbright Award in which he is currently conducting a documentary photography project on Afro-Caribbean identity and expression in Trinidad and Tobago during the 2024-2025 grant cycle. 

 

AWARDS

  • U.S. Fulbright Student Program, Trinidad and. Tobago 2024-2025
  • Photography Category Winner, Global Design Graduate Show, 2023
  • President’s Award, Best of Ringling, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, 2023
  • Bronze Award, Best of Ringling, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, 2023
  • Trustee Scholar, Photography and Imaging, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, 2022
  • Trustee Scholar Nominee, Student Life, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, 2022
  • President’s Award, Best of Ringling, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, May 2021
  • 2nd Place, Black Muse Exhibition, Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative, Sarasota, FL, Feb. 2021
  • Presidential Scholarship, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL
  • Eagle Scout, Boy Scouts of America. Troop 713, Lakeland, FL, Jan. 2019
  • Silver Garland Award, Art Category, The Ledger, Lakeland, FL, May 2019
  • 1st Place, Florida State Fair Portfolio Exhibition, Tampa Fairgrounds, FL, Feb. 2019
  • Award of Distinction, Blooming Arts Festival, Bartow FL, Mar. 2018

EXHIBITIONS

  • Teaching and Learning, Patricia Thompson Alumni and Skylight Galleries, Sarasota FL.
  • Misconceptions, Selby Gallery, Sarasota FL.
  • Best of Ringling,  Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, 2023 
  • Ligature XIII, Lois and David Stulberg Gallery, Sarasota FL. 2023
  • Visions in Black 2023, Arts and Cultural Alliance, 2023
  • CHIMERAS, Debra M. Cooley Photography Center, Sarasota, FL, 2023
  • In Pursuit of Purpose, Debra M. Cooley Photography Center, Sarasota, FL, 2023
  • Warriors of Sarasota, Mara Studio + Gallery, Sarasota, FL, 2022
  • EVERGLOW, Art Center Sarasota, FL, 2022
  • Best of Ringling, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, 2022
  • Visions in Black, Art Center Sarasota, FL, 2022
  • My Beautiful, SPAACES Gallery, Sarasota FL. 2022
  • Favorite Photo Exhibition, Lenscratch.com, 2022
  • Through the Lens, Mara Studio + Gallery, Sarasota, FL, 2021
  • Best of Ringling, Ringling College of Art + Design, Sarasota, FL, 2021
  • Black Muse, Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative, FL, 2021
  • Art to the World, Miguel Angel Ramirez Foundation, Panchimalco, San Salvador, 2021
  • Anywhere But Here, Debra M. Cooley Photography Center, Sarasota, FL, 2020
  • Who Lit A Match? Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland FL, 2019