Jonathan Pitts-Wiley

North Providence, RI, USA
jpw@jpittswiley.com | jpittswiley.com | IG: @jpittswiley

Practice

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

I am interested in how photographic practice shifts across contexts—from editorial assignments with defined constraints, to long-term institutional collaborations, to independently developed projects rooted in observation and narrative.

Across all of these spaces, my approach remains consistent: building trust quickly, working with attentiveness and presence, and producing images that function within systems of communication while retaining emotional clarity, formal precision, and visual depth.

Selected Experience

Institutional Photographer / Visual Storytelling
Barr Foundation — Boston, MA | 2024 - Present
Produces staff portraiture, event photography, and grantee documentation across multiple organizational contexts. Collaborates with communications teams to support storytelling across web, print, and internal platforms, maintaining visual consistency across varied environments and assignments.

Editorial Photographer (Commissioned Assignment)
Rhode Island Monthly — 2026
Produced a multi-location photo essay for the April 2026 issue documenting overnight labor across Rhode Island industries including healthcare, hospitality, transportation, and commercial fishing. Executed an observational documentary approach within tight editorial timelines, producing a cohesive narrative structured for long-form publication.

Artistic Director / Theatre Director
Mixed Magic Theatre — Pawtucket, RI | 2010 - Present
Leads artistic direction across productions integrating classical and contemporary works. Selected directing credits include Richard III (2025), Letter from Birmingham City Jail (2025), Notes From the Field (2024), The Motherf*cker With the Hat (2018), Fences (2013), and King Lear (2011). This practice reflects an interdisciplinary approach to storytelling across performance and visual narrative systems.

Exhibitions

Solo

  • Bat/on — Trinity Repertory Company (2024)

  • All the Worlds — World’s Fair Gallery (2023)

Group

  • Growing the Networks — WaterFire Arts Center (2025)

  • Sonder — RISD Museum (2024)

  • Members’ Exhibition — Art League Rhode Island (2024)

  • Momentum – Brown University (2023)

  • Five Alive — Curiosity Store (2023)

  • Who We Are Now — City of Providence Public Art Installation (2022)

  • All Together Now — RI Center for Photographic Arts (2021)

Recognition & Collections

  • Brown University — Public Collection

  • IShootFujifilm.com — Spotlight (2022)

  • Providence Monthly — Raising Black Voices Cover Feature (2022)

Education

  • Yale University — BA, History (2007)

Technical Approach

  • Medium and large format film systems (Mamiya RZ67, Pentax 67)

  • Hybrid analog/digital workflow (Fuji GFX 50S II)

  • Instant film processes (Polaroid, Instax)

  • Traditional film development and digital scanning workflows