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Biography

After practicing civil rights and environmental law for over twenty years, Jon Edwards completed a Master of Fine Arts at Rockport College (ME Photographic Workshops) and a BA at Antioch College. Shortly afterward, in 2008, Edwards received an Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer grant, became a finalist for the 2008 Center for Documentary Studies’ First Book prize, and was nominated for the Santa Fe Center of Photography’s Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His book, Photographs of Jon Edwards, won first prize in the Proposed Book category from the Prix de la Photographie, Paris, and was critically acclaimed in Maine Media Workshop’s July e-news and in Flak Photo. The artist has exhibited internationally and has photographs in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX; the Museum of Arts in Portland, ME; and the Farnsworth Museum in Rockland, ME. Edwards resides with his family on the coast of Maine splitting his time between photography, law, and organic farming.

Artist Statement

I have spent the last six years photographing island and coastal inhabitants of Maine. These individuals live simply and display dignity and tenacity when, by choice or lack of opportunity, they are forced to survive under either the harsh economics or isolation of island living, or choose to live an increasingly difficult traditional way of life. Their lifestyles demonstrate how far our society has come from the once organic, symbiotic relationships between human communities and our environment.

For over fifty years, John Ryan, the subject of this portfolio, has been a fisherman, apple picker, tree pruner, logger, and seaweed harvester. Like many of the individuals I photograph, Ryan is dependent on the state’s natural resources and ever-changing markets. As one natural resource becomes scarce, he must find another more abundant one to sustain himself. In his eightieth year, Ryan found himself without a home and made his temporary quarters in a seasonal cabin on an organic farm where, by choice, he performed farm chores to pull his own weight.