Assistant Professor, Art Practices
jessamyn (jesse) lovell (b. 1977, Syracuse, NY) is a gender-fluid artist and licensed private investigator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Lovell’s ancestry includes French, Sicilian, Irish, and First Nations people. Having grown up in rural poverty in upstate New York, they were the first in their family to attend college and earn a terminal degree. Their creative practice uses photography, video, and surveillance as tools to document their life experiences, making connections between class and personal identity. Their work has been featured on This American Life, BBC Outlook, The Today Show, The Guardian, and other media outlets. They have received international recognition for their work including No Trespassing (2007-2010) for which they surreptitiously followed and photographed their estranged father and Dear Erin Hart, (2011-2014) for which they found, followed, and photographed their identity thief. Lovell received their Private Investigators’ license in 2018 for their project How to Become Invisible, which synthesizes their experiences as an investigator into a photography book and art exhibitions. Lovell is the recipient of multiple awards and grants. They have shown their work internationally and were a summer 2026 MacDowell Fellow.