Artist Known for Work With LGBTQ Community Visits UK

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Nov. 19, 2014) — University of Kentucky School of Art and Visual Studies, OUTsource, VIP (Violence Intervention and Prevention) Center and WRFL will welcome artist Jess T. Dugan, an artist whose work explores issues of gender, sexuality, identity and community, to campus this week as part of Trans Day of Remembrance.

"Trans Day of Remembrance with Photographer Jess T. Dugan" will run from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in Room 111 at the Student Center. The event will feature art, speak outs and a candlelight vigil.

The following day, Dugan will speak on her work as a photographer to the "Arts Professions" class from noon to 12:50 p.m. Friday, Nov. 21, in Room 106 White Hall Classroom Building. For the past decade, Dugan has photographed people within queer and transgender communities, focusing on the complexities of identity, gender, intimacy and community. In this lecture, she will speak about her projects from 2005 to the present.

During Dugan's visit, she will also work with art studio students from "A-S 384: Color Photography," critiquing their work and giving them feedback toward completing their semester project.

Dugan earned her bachelor's degree in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, a master's degree in museum studies from Harvard University, and a second master's degree in photography from Columbia College Chicago.  

Dugan’s work has been exhibited at the San Diego Museum of Art, the Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, Massachusetts), Gallery Kayafas (Boston), Carroll and Sons Gallery (Boston), the Schneider Gallery (Chicago), Michael Mazzeo Gallery (New York City), JDC Fine Art (San Diego), the Jennifer Schwartz Gallery (Atlanta), the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art (New York City), the Rayko Photo Center (San Francisco), the Photographic Resource Center at Boston University, and at many colleges and universities nationwide.  
 

Photography by Dugan is in the permanent collections of the Harvard Art Museum, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida), the DePaul Art Museum, the Michele and Donald D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts (Springfield, Massachusetts), and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction (Bloomington, Indiana). Her work is also included in the Midwest Photographer's Project at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.  


In the fall of 2015, Dugan's "Every breath we drew" will open as a solo exhibition at the Cornell Fine Arts Museum. The show will coincide with the release of her first monograph, published by Daylight Books. Dugan is represented by the Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago and Gallery Kayafas in Boston.
 

Within the museum field, Dugan has worked as a collections specialist at the Harvard Art Museum, as a museum photographer at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and as a curatorial assistant and educator at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago.  

Trans Day of Remembrance or Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is an annual observance on Nov. 20 that honors the memory of those whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence.

The UK School of Art and Visual Studies in the UK College of Fine Arts is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in the fields of art studio, art history and visual studies and art education.

OUTsource provides an affirming, safe and confidential space for LGBTQ* students to learn more about gender identity, human sexuality and related issues by providing access to academic, cultural and interpersonal resources; and aims to change the campus climate and culture to become more inclusive of LGBTQ* students by embracing diversity. OUTsource is located in the first floor of the Student Center

The VIP Center works with students, staff, faculty and community partners toward the mission of eliminating the perpetration of interpersonal violence including sexual assault, partner violence and stalking.

WRFL is a student-run college radio station that broadcasts 24 hours a day from the UK campus. 

MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Hale, 859-257-8716; whitney.hale@uky.edu