Ethan Aaro Jones (b. 1985, Washington, D.C.) is an artist whose relationship with photography is fluid as he explores empathy and contemporary culture through observation, documentation, and directed portraiture. He holds a MFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago and a BFA in photography from Rochester Institute of Technology. Ethan’s work has been exhibited internationally, including his first solo exhibition at the University of Notre Dame in 2014. He is also a previous recipient of the Albert P. Weisman Award. Ethan lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Last Summer
“These photographs are from an ongoing series that attempts to construct a lyrical sense of summer through multiple approaches and understandings of the season. Based on a combination of actual experiences, and embellished through imagination anticipation and memory, summer exists in our collective conscious as an emotionally charged entity. It often conjures thoughts of free time and leisure—forms of non-activity that are sought and desired for their effect on our psyche.
The freedom and joy that accompany summer are unifying pleasures in American culture as all regions and people expect to experience vacations and warm weather. Yet, the knowledge that summer will turn into winter brings about a sense of poignancy and temporality to each joyous moment—adding texture and understanding to how our culture thinks about summer and the passage of time. Ultimately, summer is a cultural creation based upon an American brand of idealism that highlights the pleasurable moments while concealing imperfections; it is an elaborate convincing and desirable fiction.”
To view more of Ethan’s work, please visit his website.