KURLAND, Justine

About US-American photographer Justine KURLAND (b.1969, in Warsaw, New York)

Justine KURLAND earned her B.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts in 1996. She went on to study with Gregory CREWDSON at Yale University where she received an M.F.A. in 1998. She first gained public notice with her work in the group show 'Another Girl, Another Planet' (1999). The show included her large c-print staged tableau pictures of neo-romantic landscapes inhabited by young adolescent girls, half-sprites, half juvenile delinquents. This was her first exhibition of a photographic interest that lasted from 1997, when she began taking pictures of her mentor Laurie Simmons's babysitter and her friends, to 2002. Altogether, she published 69 pictures of girls in a series called 'Girl Pictures.' The staged photos take place in urban and wilderness settings, with girls depicted as though to imply they are runaways, hopeful and independent. As landscapes she chose the 'secret places' of late childhood; wasteland on the edges of suburbia, 'owned' only by a feral nature and unsupervised children. After having a son, she began to photograph pregnant women and new mothers ('Mama Baby', 2004–2007). Her son's interest in trains would lead her to photograph hobos and trains from 2007 to 2011 ('This Train Is Bound for Glory'); as he grew up, she became interested in American masculinity, and created photographs of cars and mechanics ('Sincere Auto Care',  2014–2015). Her work appears on the cover and liner notes of French electronic/shoegaze group M83's 2004 album 'Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts', as well as the covers of the EP releases for the album.

Photo books by as well as with contributions by Justine KURLAND

• 'Spirit West' (2000); 'Another Girl, Another Planet' (2001); 'Old Joy' (2004); 'The Open Road: Photography & the American Road Trip' (2014, edited by David Campany); 'Highway Kind' (2016); 'Girl Pictures' (2020); 'SCUMB Manifesto' (2022); 'This Train' (2024);
  

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