Installation views
The titles of Joe Z’s photographs are factual and seemingly straightforward, noting the year, month, day and location the pictures were made. Reread them. And notice between them, a silence that carries the darkness, uncertainty and anxiety that he, and many of us experienced throughout the global pandemic. With a moving sense of care, for himself and his viewers, Joe Z’s photographs invite us to share a space of quiet introspection where we can reflect and process without the need to offer an immediate reaction. And then, ‘Social Distancing in 46° Waters…’ snaps us immediately back to the body, to his legs, braced against the freezing waters in Lake Ontario as he stands for another exposure of his 4 x 5 pinhole camera.
-Text by Sasha Louis Bush
Artist Bio
Joe Ziolkowski (Jacksonville, FL, United States) received a Master of Science in Education, Concentration: Art Education from Nazareth College of Rochester. A Master of Fine Art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. Implementation of Online training education services to facilitate Virtual Exchange workshops on distant learning, overseeing training to develop inter-cultural assignments. SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence for 2017-18, Scholarship and Creative Activities. Emeritus Associate Professor of Photography, Art and Art History at SUNY Genesee Community College, Batavia, NY. He was contracted as Projects and Operations Coordinator, Center for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL), SUNY Global Affairs Office, Albany, NY. He has been awarded artist residencies at Visual Studies Workshop, Paul ArtSpace, Jentel Foundation, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, English Harbour Arts Centre and Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. His work has been widely exhibited, nationally and internationally and he is the author of two monographs, Walking the Line (1992) and Pressure (1997).
www.joe-ziolkowski.com