Janna Ireland

Janna Ireland (born 1985) is an African-American photographer based in Los Angeles.

Biography

Janna Ireland was born in 1985 in Philadelphia. She studied photography at NYU, received her MFA at UCLA, and now lives and works in Los Angeles. Ireland photographs a wide range of subject matter from portraits and still lifes to the urban landscape, and her photographs have been exhibited internationally. Since 2016, she has photographed the buildings designed by African-American architect, Paul R. Williams, who was the first black architect admitted to the American Institute of Architecture (AIA).{{Cite journal|last=Morgan|first=Susan|date=Fall 2018|title=Janna Ireland|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26530870|journal=Aperture|volume=232|issue=232 |pages=126–131|jstor=26530870 }} In 2020, she published a book featuring 200 of these photographs, which were collected in a volume titled, Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer's View.{{Cite web|last=Zeiger|first=Mimi|date=2018-10-01|title=Photographer Janna Ireland is ensuring that modernist architect Paul R. Williams isn't forgotten|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/museums/la-et-cm-janna-ireland-photographer-paul-r-williams-20181001-story.html|access-date=2021-03-17|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} Ireland continued her work on Paul R. Williams as a Peter E. Pool Research Fellow at the Nevada Museum of Art.{{Cite web|title=Research Fellows|url=https://www.nevadaart.org/art/the-center/fellows/|access-date=2021-05-13|website=Nevada Museum of Art|language=en}} In 2022, an exhibition of her photographs of Williams' Nevada buildings opened at the Nevada Museum of Art.{{cite news |last1=McGee |first1=Celia |title=A Photographer Follows Paul Revere Williams Into the West |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/14/arts/design/ireland-paul-williams-architect-photography-nevada.html |access-date=16 November 2022 |date=14 July 2022}} She is an assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Occidental College.

Education

Janna Ireland is a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts in 2003, where she earned her major in creative writing. She received her BFA in Photography and Imaging from NYU Tisch School of Arts in 2007. She earned her MFA in art in 2013 from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Artworks

Ireland has an extensive career in editorial photography, and her work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine,{{Cite news|last=Kiesling|first=Lydia|date=2021-01-26|title=This Parenting Book Actually Made Me a Better Parent|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/magazine/parenting-book-pandemic.html|access-date=2021-05-07|issn=0362-4331}} The Atlantic,{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Caroline Randall|date=September 13, 2020|title=Other Ways to Say Black Face|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/books/archive/2020/09/caroline-randall-williams-other-ways-say-black-face/616078/|access-date=2021-05-13|issn=1072-7825}} Architectural Digest,{{Cite web|last=Otieno|first=Nereya|title=Paul R. Williams: Behind the Mastery of the Master Architect|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/paul-williams-behind-mastery-master-architect|access-date=2021-05-13|website=Architectural Digest|date=11 February 2021 |language=en-US}} Introspective Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books,{{Cite web|last=Keeps|first=David|date=February 14, 2021|title=Celebrating the Life an Legacy of Pioneering L.A. Architect Paul R. Williams|url=https://www.1stdibs.com/introspective-magazine/paul-r-williams/|website=Introspective magazine}} The New Yorker,Shun-lien Bynum, Sarah. "Bedtime Story." The New Yorker. The New Yorker, April 20, 2020. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/27/bedtime-story. Harper's Magazine,{{Cite journal|date=2020-07-15|title=[Miscellany] False Dawn, By Khadijah Queen|url=https://harpers.org/archive/2020/08/false-dawn-khadijah-queen/|access-date=2021-05-07|journal=Harper's Magazine|language=en |last1=Queen |first1=Khadijah }} and L.A. Magazine.Meares, Hadley. "Taking a Closer Look at the Lasting Genius of L.A. Architect Paul R. Williams." LA Magazine. September 15, 2020. https://www.lamag.com/culturefiles/paul-revere-williams-janna-ireland-book/ .

She is best known for her series of photographs of buildings designed by African-American architect, Paul R. Williams. Beginning in 2016,Artsy, Avishay. "Turning the lens to the architecture of Paul R. Williams." UCLA Newsroom. February 10, 2021. Accessed 2021-05-08. https://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/janna-ireland-paul-r-williams-book she traveled around southern California photographing the buildings that he designed at the height of his career, from the 1920s-1940s.{{Cite web|last=Otieno|first=Nereya|title=Paul R. Williams: Behind the Mastery of the Master Architect|url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/paul-williams-behind-mastery-master-architect|access-date=2021-05-07|website=Architectural Digest|date=11 February 2021 |language=en-US}} She has photographed several dozen structures designed by Williams.Ireland, Janna. Regarding Paul R. Williams: A Photographer's View. Angel City Press, 2020.

Exhibitions

= Solo exhibitions =

class="wikitable"

|2013

|"The Spotless Mirror," Schneider Gallery, Chicago, IL{{Cite web|last=|first=|title=The Spotless Mirror|url=https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-spotless-mirror/Event?oid=11355034|access-date=2021-05-13|website=Chicago Reader|date=23 September 2009|language=en}}

2014

|"The Spotless Mirror," Tyler Wood Gallery, San Francisco, CA{{Cite web|last=LensCulture|first=Janna Ireland {{!}}|title=Janna Ireland|url=https://www.lensculture.com/janna-ireland|access-date=2021-05-13|website=LensCulture}}

2017

|"There is Only One Paul R. Williams," WUHO Gallery, Los Angeles, CA{{Cite web|title=Janna Ireland {{!}} Biography|url=https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Janna-Ireland/0A815A3FBFFD7198/Biography|access-date=2021-03-17|website=www.mutualart.com|language=en}}

2018

|"Open Studio," Arlene Schnitzer Gallery, Harvard-Westlake School, Los Angeles, CA

2019

|"Familiar Presence," Agility, Los Angeles, CA{{Cite web|title=Janna Ireland: Familiar Presence at Agility Space|url=https://curate.la/event.php?id=17934|access-date=2021-05-13|website=curate.la|archive-date=2021-05-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513193851/https://curate.la/event.php?id=17934|url-status=dead}}

"The Vally Below," Antenna Works, New Orleans, LA

2021

|"Looking In, Looking Out," Carolyn Glasoe Bailey Foundation, Ojai, CA

2022

|"Janna Ireland on the Architectural Legacy of Paul Revere Williams in Nevada," Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV{{Cite web|title=Paul Revere Williams|url=https://www.nevadaart.org/art/exhibitions/paul-revere-williams/|access-date=2021-05-13|website=Nevada Museum of Art|language=en}}

= Selected group exhibitions =

class="wikitable"

|2005

|"Common Grounds," Steinhardt School of Education, New York University, New York, NY

2007

|"Access," Harriet's Alter Ego, Brooklyn, NY

"Show 3," Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, NY

2008

|"The Lack of Desire," Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn, NY

2012

|"BOOM," Pacific Design Center/d.e.n. contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

2013

|"The Photographic Self," Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

"Face of California," Santa Paula Art Museum, Santa Paula, CA

2014

|"If We Came From Nowhere Here, Why Can't We Go Somewhere There?" Vivid Solutions, Washington, DC

2015

|"On Being Black," Arnika Dawkins Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2016

|"If We Came From Nowhere Here, Why Can't We Go Somewhere There?" Trenton Artworks, Trenton, NJ

2017

|"Clickbait," The Front, New Orleans, LA

2018

|"Odds and Ends Art Book Fair," Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT

2019

|"Photoville LA," Annenberg Space for Photography, Los Angeles, CA

"The BEACON Project," Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

"Inter/Section," Rotterdam Photo Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands

"Awareness," DNJ Gallery, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, CA

"Beacon," Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA

2020

|"What Does Democracy Look Like?," Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL

"Sanctuary: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection," California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

"Binder of Women," Track 16, Los Angeles, CA

2021

|"Sanctuary: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection," California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Collections

Janna Ireland's photographs are held in the permanent collections of major metropolitan museums including, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,{{Cite web|title=LACMA Collections|url=https://collections.lacma.org/search/site/janna%2520ireland?f%5B0%5D=bm_field_has_image:true|access-date=2021-05-11|website=collections.lacma.org}} the California African American Museum,{{Cite web|title=CAAM {{!}} Sanctuary: Recent Acquisitions to the Permanent Collection|url=https://caamuseum.org/exhibitions/2021/sanctuary-recent-acquisitions-to-the-permanent-collection|access-date=2021-05-11|website=caamuseum.org|language=en}} the Santa Barbara Museum of Art,{{cite web | title=SBMA Collections|url=https://collections.sbma.net/people/8034/janna-ireland/objects |website=Santa Barbara Museum of Art |access-date=16 November 2022}} and the Museum of Contemporary Photography.{{Cite web|title=Museum of Contemporary Photography|url=https://www.mocp.org/info.php?s=Janna+Ireland&t=objects&type=all|access-date=2021-05-11|website=www.mocp.org}}