Joshua Aronson is a Brooklyn based photographer from Miami Beach. His work is about, on some level, contemporary male identity. He started making pictures in 2013 and, in 2017, at the age of 23, he became one of the youngest photographers to publish work in both The New York Times and T: The New York Times Style Magazine. Although he does not feature in any of his pictures, Joshua in a way is making self portraits. He is interested in reflecting his process, while playing with ideas of injecting his own identity, in each photograph he makes. Joshua’s work has been published by The New York Times, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, Dazed, GARAGE Magazine, Office Magazine and i-D. Conversations about his process have been featured by publications including Hero Magazine, Indie Magazine, WGSN, Sigh Journal of Photography, Highsnobiety and Lomography. He earned a B.A. in Philosophy at Northwestern University and, this past spring, was honored as one of ten Emerging Photographers by PDN.
Emerging
I think about the idea that my images might serve an existential purpose. That they might literally affect a change in someone’s life. I mean this very seriously. I try not to get caught up in my own place in the world, but to think about how I can change that of others. How a photograph can be more than just something pretty. My camera could be a tool, a total player in the advancement of another artist’s career.
This approach means it’s not my movie anymore. I’m not the star. I’m not the first person I think of when I make a decision. The music doesn’t play for me—it’s about them. And that changes everything.
Emerging follows this philosophy. It takes an artist and documents their identity for the world to see. It hears the question “What was it like to be an emerging artist in 2018?” and provides a rough sketch of an answer. It’s a document of the now, and a proposition for the future.
To view more of Joshua’s work please visit his website.