CV & PRESS

JONATHAN PITTS-WILEY

North Providence, RI, USA

jpw@jpittswiley.com · jpittswiley.com · IG: @jpittswiley

PRACTICE STATEMENT

I am a portrait and documentary photographer working across editorial, institutional, and independent contexts. My practice explores identity, belonging, and beauty through film-based, instant, and hybrid photographic processes within structured environments—including workplaces, cultural institutions, and performance settings.

With over twenty years of experience in theatrical direction and performance practice, I approach photography through questions of presence, staging, attention, and relational exchange. I am particularly concerned with the relationship between theatrical performance and instant photographic processes, where collaboration, duration, and material production become inseparable from the resulting image.

Across editorial assignments, long-term institutional collaborations, and self-initiated projects, my approach remains consistent: building trust, working with attentiveness and responsiveness, and creating photographs that function within complex systems of communication while retaining emotional clarity, formal precision, and optical depth.

EDUCATION

  • 2007 — Yale University, Bachelor of Arts in History

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & SPATIAL INSTALLATIONS

Solo Exhibitions

  • 2024 — Bat/on, Trinity Repertory Company, Providence, RI

  • 2023 — All the Worlds, World’s Fair Gallery, Providence, RI

Group Exhibitions & Public Activations

  • 2026 — America Unfinished!?, WaterFire Arts Center, Providence, RI

  • 2025 — Growing the Networks, WaterFire Arts Center, Providence, RI

  • 2024 — Sonder, RISD Museum, Providence, RI

  • 2024 — Members’ Exhibition, Art League Rhode Island, Pawtucket, RI

  • 2023 — Momentum, Brown University, Providence, RI

  • 2023 — Five Alive, Curiosity Store, Providence, RI

  • 2022 — Who We Are Now, City of Providence Public Art Installation, Providence, RI

  • 2021 — All Together Now, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI

EDITORIAL & INSTITUTIONAL COMMISSIONS

Editorial Photography

  • 2026 — Rhode Island Monthly (July Issue) — Feature photo essay on the impact of ICE enforcement on immigrant communities, environmental portraiture, and documentary coverage.

  • 2026 — Rhode Island Monthly (April Issue) — Multi-location documentary photo essay on overnight labor across Rhode Island industries (healthcare, hospitality, transportation, commercial fishing).

Institutional Photography & Visual Storytelling

  • 2024–Present — Barr Foundation — Staff portraiture, institutional event documentation, and grantee visual storytelling across web, print, and organizational platforms.

DIRECTORIAL HISTORY & THEATRICAL PRACTICE

Mixed Magic Theatre (Pawtucket, RI)

Artistic Director & Resident Director (2010–Present)

Leads artistic direction across productions integrating classical and contemporary texts. Selected directorial works include:

  • 2025 — Richard III

  • 2025 — Letter from Birmingham City Jail

  • 2024 — Notes From the Field

  • 2018 — The Motherf*cker With the Hat

  • 2013 — Fences

  • 2011 — King Lear

PRESS, MEDIA & CRITICAL FEATURES

  • 2026 — Behind the Story Podcast — "Rhode Island Monthly Night Shift Episode"

  • 2026 — Rhode Island Monthly — Feature Coverage: "What It’s Like Being on the Night Shift in Rhode Island"

  • 2023 — The Boston Globe — Critical Feature: "Bearing Witness to Black Lives"

  • 2023 — Brown University News — Exhibition Feature: "Momentum"

  • 2022 — Providence Monthly — Cover Feature & Profile: "Raising Black Voices"

  • 2022 — IShootFujifilm.com — Spotlight Feature: "Artist in Focus"

  • 2022 — Providence Patch — Public Art Feature: "Providence Unveils 5 New Downtown Portraits"

  • 2021 — WaterFire Arts Center — Feature: "The Let-Out"

  • 2021 — The Slate Studio — "Work in Progress" Collaboration Series

  • 2021 — IO Labs — Client Spotlight Series

INSTITUTIONAL COLLECTIONS

  • Brown University — Public Permanent Collection

  • Private collections across New England and national archives.

EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE & WORKSHOPS

Leads workshops and guest lectures focused on portraiture, visual perception, and photographic discipline in academic, institutional, and community settings:

  • Film & Studio Lighting: Analog portraiture workflows using small, medium, and large-format camera systems.

  • Mobile Optics & Perception: Visual perception and phone-based portraiture workshops for emerging professionals.

  • Community & Institutional Practice: Applied portrait sittings and visual storytelling in academic and municipal settings.

TECHNICAL & OPTICAL SYSTEMS

  • Medium & Large Format Camera Systems: Mamiya RZ67, Pentax 67, Speed Graphic 4x5

  • Hybrid & Digital Systems: Fujifilm GFX 50S II

  • Instant Chemistry & Alternative Printmaking: Polaroid, Instax Wide, gel plate, cyanotype, traditional silver halide printmaking

  • Digitization & Archival Workflow: High-resolution flatbed scanning, precision color calibration, and archival film processing