Jon Ervin is a New York based artist working in photography and video. He originated from rural Oklahoma and then moved to New York for school. He received a BFA in Photography from Parsons the New School of Design in May of 2012. Later he attended the School of Visual Arts where he received an MFA degree in Photography, Video, and Other Related in May of 2014. Currently, his work focuses around masculinity, gender construction, and social relationships.
Finding Home
Finding Home explores the physical and cultural landscapes of the rural towns and vast uninhabited expanses of space throughout the Oklahoma/Texas countryside. A place that has always been considered to be untamed by the endless amounts of barren landscapes and wild animals, happens to be the same place I call my home and where I spent my adolescence. Throughout the years these areas still have remained as a place of extreme fascination to me, even as growing up changed my views and redefined how I related to it. I have always felt that there is a certain mystique that surrounds this place. Characterized by it’s overwhelming vastness and complete isolation, these areas have a history that transcends the very people who now call it home. To this day it still retains an essence of freedom where the American Cowboy was born. These sleepy, small towns embody a lifestyle where people discover their spiritual peace by their personal interactions with the terrain. It is the same place where I heard true silence for the first time in my life and understood the value of a relationship with open spaces. The land becomes a connecting force spiritually and physically to everyone that has ever inhabited this territory. Through skills of husbandry and cultivation the locals have kept this area prosperous and fertile over the years. While the majority of these photographs focus on areas free of human presence, the cultural aura of those who occupy these territories are conveyed by what they have left behind.
To view more of Jon Ervin’s work please visit his website.