jessamyn (jesse) lovell (b. 1977, Syracuse, NY) is a gender-fluid artist and licensed private investigator based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. lovell is of French, Sicilian, Irish, and Choctaw heritage and grew up in rural poverty in upstate New York. They work with 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 Investigator’s license in 2018 for their project How to Become Invisible, which synthesizes their experiences as an investigator into a Photography Book and series of art exhibitions.
We are excited to share this news and appreciate jesse’s many years of dedication and contributions to our department. We look forward to building on that foundation as we welcome our new faculty to the fall semester.
