Jorian Charlton – Between Us

Curated by Shannon Anderson

Straddling the worlds of fashion photography and intimate portraiture, Jorian Charlton’s work emphasizes the beauty and style of her subjects while exploring contemporary modes of Black representation. Between Us brings together images produced in-studio and outdoors to focus on the Mississauga-based artist’s intuitive and collaborative approach toward portraiture and the intimate relationship between photographer and subject.

Charlton’s models are a combination of friends, family, and people she connects with through Instagram. Already aware of how her subjects opt to present themselves on social media, Charlton is interested in working with her subjects to explore alternative avenues of self-expression. While she remains inspired by digital representation, she chooses to work in film, using a medium-format camera. This analogue process is intentionally slower, more technical, and less immediate.

“In my photography, I’m trying to create a visual style that is uniquely my own,” Charlton says. “Regardless of the shoot, I aim to capture my subjects in a timeless way that gives the model a sense of strength and evokes intrigue or connection with the viewer.”

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER

Jorian Charlton is a Mississauga-based photographer. She earned a Bachelor of Photography at Sheridan College and has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Art Museum, University of Toronto; Doris McCarthy Gallery at the University of Toronto Scarborough; and Gallery TPW, Toronto. Her work is included in the travelling exhibition The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion,which was first curated for the 2021 edition of Arles Les Recontres de la Photographie. Charlton has created a number of public art projects in Toronto including Untitled (Angaer) on Shaw Street with Critical Distance Centre for Curators and Wedge Curatorial Projects (2021); Whak, Mo and Angaer at 330 Bay Street with Toronto’s Year of Public Art (2021); and most recently Georgia at 460 King Street West with the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival (2022). She is represented by Cooper Cole Gallery in Toronto