Biography

Jesse Burke is a photographer working primarily with themes related to masculine identity. Burke’s photographs evoke a deep lushness with images of velvet black darkness, blankets of pine needles, blood, love and sadness. He photographs the natural world around him as well as the men who are a part of his life, whether family members or friends, to explore the vulnerability of masculinity. He is drawn to moments where a rupture or wound is physically, emotionally or metaphorically inflicted. He employs concepts such as male bonding and peer influence, masculine rites and rituals, and man’s connectedness to nature in order to expose these instances.

Burke is an adjunct professor at RISD in the photography department. He received his BFA from the University of Arizona and his MFA in photography from Rhode Island School of Design. He has lectured at Newspace Center for Photography, the Haggerty Museum of Art, the Society for Photographic education national conference, the University of Washington and the Art Institute in Boston, MA. His monograph, Intertidal, was published by Decode Books in 2008.  Also in 2008, he received the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Aaron Siskind Fellowship. He has exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad including The Haggerty Museum, the Perth Center for Photography, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Print Center in Philadelphia and the Lishui Photo Festival in China. Burke has work in many private and public collections including the Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Burke is represented by ClampArt in New York City and Platform Gallery in Seattle, WA.

Jesse Burke

Critic
jburke@risd.edu
401-454-6122

• BFA, University of Arizona
• MFA, Rhode Island School of Design

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