Photo talk: John Joyce
Art Department at Parkway Central Library
Join local artist John Joyce as he discusses his photographic practice working in the antiquarian platinum palladium process. Additionally, Joyce will share projects shot in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and a boxing gym in Mexico City that have been influenced by pictorialism and Mexican modernism. The talk will also highlight library holdings related to the history of alternative photographic processes as well as the artists, past and contemporary, who have used them. Photographers are invited to come back with their own work on Thursday, June 13th for a discussion led by the artist.
John Joyce (Collingswood, NJ, USA) is a photographer skilled in traditional, non-silver processes including gum bichromate, cyanotype, and his process of choice, platinum palladium. Recently, he has been working in sustainable plant-based processes such as anthotypes and chlorophyll printing. He uses medium format film and usually makes contact prints for his platinum palladium prints. Consequently, many of his photographs are no larger than 2 ½” x 2 ½”. These small prints are delicate and full of detail, which draws the viewer in to the images.
Joyce has photographed around the world including Morocco, Mexico, Cuba, Turkey, Syria, Peru and Egypt, as well as for decades the Pine Barrens in his home state of New Jersey. His most recent long-term project, "Gimnasio Nuevo Jordan," is an ongoing portrait series of the community of boxers who train at the renowned barrio gym in Mexico City. His work has been exhibited throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding areas. In addition to teaching alternative processes photography at a variety of local universities, Joyce has been an Associate Professor of English at the Community College of Philadelphia for thirty years. His work belongs in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the private collections of artist, Ann Hamilton, and Mexican collector, Pedro Slim (Mexico City). His long-term project, “Gimnasio Nuevo Jordan,” was a LensCulture Portrait Awards 2021 Finalist. Joyce is represented by The Print Center.
Art Department
Room 208
215-686-5403
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street (between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway)
Philadelphia, PA 19103
1-833-TALK FLP (825-5357)