Jess Kirkham

Specializing in documentary, lifestyle, portraiture, and fine art photography and book making.

Created the curricula and taught a forty-hour documentary photography program for older adults at the Kips Bay Castle Hill Senior Center in the Bronx. Guided 40+ students in creating personal documentary projects that focused on topics such as navigating Covid-19 as a senior citizen, the challenges of mothering a disabled adult child, and daily life in Pelham Bay Park. Curated, designed, and edited student projects and supportive project statements for the Bronx Senior Photo League’s exhibition website. Produced and installed all outdoor BSPL exhibitions at Mitchel and Castle Hill senior centers between 2017-2019. The BJPL students work was published in the New York Times article, “The People That Are Within These Frames”: A Community Of Self Portraits. To view student work: 2021 (click Kips Bay Castle Hill dropdown menu), 2020 (scroll down to Kips Bay). The BSPL students work was published in the New York Times article, “The People That Are Within These Frames”: A Community Of Self Portraits.

Created curricula for the Bronx Junior Photo League afterschool beginner photography program.Taught documentary photography and multimedia practices to 75+ high school and middle school students in person before the COVID-19 shutdown in March 2020 and virtually thereafter. Instructed students in the technical aspects of photography and on how to employ photography to explore their identities and communities. Led students in creating documentary photo essays on various topics including community activism, social justice, and coming of age in a global pandemic. Produced, edited and sequenced students’ final photography essays, project statements and captions. Designed student pages for the Bronx Junior Photo League exhibition website. Student work and this curricula was awarded “Best Photo Program of the Year” by the Lucie Awards in 2021, published in the New York Times, won multiple Scholastic Awards and was exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Produced and installed all outdoor BSPL exhibitions at Mitchel and Castle Hill senior centers between 2017-2019. The BJPL students work was published in the New York Times article, “The People That Are Within These Frames”: A Community Of Self Portraits.

Managed and organized digital camera, lighting, analog, and BDC program equipment. Instructed community members on how to use photography equipment, scanners, and darkroom enlargers for equipment and lab rentals. Oversaw equipment rentals and returns. Responsible for the BDC darkroom setup, mixing processing chemicals, and keeping the darkroom organized and clean. Taught students and community members how to load and process film and print in the darkroom during open lab hours.

Photographed and documented events and exhibitions held in the BDC’s gallery space. Assisted teachers with conducting photography classes, facilitating student shoots/interviews, post production and file organization as a Teaching Assistant in the Bronx Junior Photo League Program. Organized the equipment, set, and printing of BDC’s Free Holiday Portrait sessions. Every holiday, members of the Bronx community and their families are invited to be photographed and take home their printed portraits. Assisted exhibition coordinator with printing, framing, and hanging the BDC's gallery exhibitions. Assisted in planning and executing the monthly events held in the BDC's event space.

Assisting with post-production for "Here Come the Videofreex", a documentary focused on a 1960s radical video collective; logging and transcribing film footage; research. http://videofreexfilm.com/

Conducted research on photographers/filmmakers for upcoming exhibitions and screenings; prepared gallery space for events; assisted with framing/installing photographic works in the gallery; assisted filming/editing a BDC documentary focused on the prevalence of diabetes in the Bronx.