Jesse Marlow


Jesse Marlow is an Australian street photographer, editorial and commercial photographer who lives and works in Melbourne.
Marlow's personal work has been published in three books of his own, and in various books with others; it has been exhibited in a number of solo exhibitions in Australia, and group exhibitions internationally; and is held in the public collections of the City of Melbourne, and the State Library of Victoria, both in Melbourne, Australia. He won first prize in the 2011 London Street Photography Festival's International Street Photography Award, and in the 2012 Bowness Photography Prize.
He was a member of the Australian documentary photography collective Oculi, from 2003 to 2012, and was a member of the In-Public street photography collective from 2001.

Life and work

Marlow was born in 1978 in Melbourne, Australia.
Marlow says he was first inspired to make street photography at age eight by the book Subway Art, which documents the early history of New York City's graffiti movement. He subsequently borrowed his mother's SLR camera and documented graffiti in Melbourne during school holidays, with his mother driving him around. He continued to photograph graffiti for ten years. His photography education was a "basic one-year course in photography at a commercial college". Marlow says he was next significantly inspired at college by the work of photographers Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Alex Webb, and more recently by architecture, design and the Australian painters Jeffrey Smart and Howard Arkley.
For his first book, Centre Bounce: Football from Australia's Heart, Marlow documented a series of Australian rules football carnivals in Aboriginal Australian communities in the Northern Territory. He made trips to the outback over four years to photograph the game that has a rich tradition and is played with a "commitment and passion not seen anywhere else around the country". Marlow's second book, Wounded, shows people going about their routines, yet with visible injury. He was inspired after breaking his arm and unable to operate a camera, he became tuned to noticing others in a similar position and they were subsequently all he photographed for the next two years. He has said that his "aim with the project was to show that despite people suffering obvious superficial injuries, human beings dust themselves off and get on with life." These first two books were made in black and white. For his next book, Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them he changed to colour photography. All his personal work to date has been made on 35 mm film, using rangefinder cameras.
Marlow became a member of the In-Public street photography collective in 2001. He was a member of Oculi, an Australian documentary photography collective, from 2003 to 2012. He then joined M.33, both a collective of Australian photographers and gallery representation.

Publications

Publications by Marlow

  • Centre Bounce: Football from Australia's Heart. Melbourne: Self-published / Hardie Grant Books, 2003.. With an introduction by Michael Long, foreword by Martin Flanagan, and an essay by Neil Murray.
  • Wounded. Melbourne: Self-published / Sling Shot, 2005.. Edition of 1000 copies. Black and white photographs.
  • Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them. Melbourne: M.33, 2014.. Edition of 1000 copies. Colour photographs.
  • Second City. Melbourne: Self-published / Sling Shot, 2021.. With a foreword by Tony Birch. Edition of 1000 copies. Black and white photographs.

Publications with contributions by Marlow

  • The Hour of the Wolf. Melbourne: PenFolk, 2007.. Poems by Joachim Matschoss and photographs by Marlow. Work resulting from Matschoss and Marlow having explored Melbourne in the period between night and dawn, the hour of the wolf.
  • The Day the World Stopped to Run: The Human Race 10K. New York: Melcher Media, 2008..
  • G.D Technology and Art: a story of innovation narrated by eighteen contemporary artists. Milan: Electa, 2008. Edited by Ludovico Pratesi.
  • Reportage: a Retrospective 1999–2009. Bondi Junction, Sydney: Reportage, 2010. Edited by Jacqui Vicario and Stephen Dupont.. With a foreword by Robert McFarlane. Edition of 200 copies. Catalogue of an exhibition of photographs from The Reportage Festival of Photojournalism, 1999 to 2009, shown at the National Art School in Sydney.
  • Street Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, 2010. . London: Thames & Hudson, 2011. . Edited by Sophie Howarth and Stephen McLaren.
  • Oculi. Melbourne: Hardie Grant, 2010.. Edited by the Oculi Photography Group. With an introduction by David Marr, and essays by Kyla McFarlane and Dean Sewell. A survey of the work of the then current members of Oculi, published to mark its tenth anniversary.
  • 10 – 10 Years of In-Public. London: Nick Turpin Publishing, 2010.. Includes an essay by Jonathan Glancey, "Outlandish Harmony"; a foreword by Nick Turpin; and a chapter each by Marlow and others.
  • Hijacked III: Australia / United Kingdom. Heidelberg, Germany: Kehrer, 2012.. Edited by Mark McPherson, Louise Clements, and Leigh Robb. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at Derby QUAD, Derby, UK, and Perth Cultural Centre, Perth, Australia.
  • Characters: Cultural Stories Revealed Through Typography. By Stephen Banham. London: Thames & Hudson; Melbourne: State Library of Victoria, 2012.. With a foreword by Rick Poynor. Marlow contributed photographs to accompany text along with four other photographers.
  • Laying Foundations for Change: capital investments of the Atlantic Philanthropies. By Atlantic Philanthropies. Magnum Foundation, 2014.. Two volumes.
  • The World Atlas of Street Photography. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2014.. Edited by Jackie Higgins. With a foreword by Max Kozloff.
  • The Street Photographer's Manual. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014.. By David Gibson. Includes profiles on In-Public photographers.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

  • Centre Bounce: Football from Australia's Heart, Alcaston Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, 2003; then toured regional galleries nationally including Araluen Cultural Precinct, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, 2004; Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, Booragul, New South Wales, 2005 ; and elsewhere.
  • Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them, Crossley & Scott, Melbourne, 2007.
  • Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them... Continued, Melbourne, 2010.
  • OAO, Anna Pappas Gallery, Prahran, Melbourne, Australia, 2011. Photographs of "graffiti in the Central Australian Desert as a vehicle of expression for indigenous youths".
  • OAO #6 2007-9 and #9 2007-9, Billboard Installation 2, City of Yarra, Victoria, Australia, 2011. Two photographs from Marlow's One And Only series on two billboards, part of Yarra City Council's Out There public artwork program.
  • Don’t Just Tell Them, Show Them, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, 2012.
  • Snapshots, Whitehorse Artspace, Box Hill Town Hall, City of Whitehorse, 2014. City of Whitehorse 20 year anniversary commission.

Exhibitions with others or during festivals

  • Life: Flinders St. Station, Platform2, Campbell Arcade / Degraves Street Subway, Flinders Street railway station, Melbourne, 2000. Part of Platform, a Making Space project artist-run initiative, by the Victorian Initiatives of Artists Network.
  • Heavenly Creatures. Mythology & Reality, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Bulleen, Melbourne, Australia, 2004/2005. Thirty-five works exploring the iconography of the angel in modern and contemporary Australian art. Paintings, earthenware, photographs, works on paper and kinetic sculpture. Included Marlow's Ngukurr Bulldogs coach and players, 2003. Curated by Melissa Keys.
  • Risk, exhibition of World Press Photo's 2006 Joop Swart Masterclass, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 2006/2007. Marlow's series about Indigenous Australians in Alice Springs, made specifically for the master class, was shown.
  • Leica/Centre for Contemporary Photography Documentary Photography Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne, Australia, 2007, and toured nationally. A survey of contemporary Australian documentary photography in series format. Photographs by the winner and finalists of the Award.
  • Australian Rules: Around the Grounds, Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash, Melbourne, 2007; then toured to Central Goldfields Art Gallery, Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, 2009.
  • Reportage a Retrospective Exhibition 1999–2009, National Art School, Sydney, November 2010. Curated by Jacqui Vicario, Stephen Dupont, Michael Amendolia, Jack Picone, and David Dare Parker. Photographs from The Reportage Festival of Photojournalism, 1999 to 2009.
  • Terra Australias Incognita: A Photographic Survey = unknown land of the south, Manly Art Gallery and Museum, 2010; then toured to Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash, Melbourne, 2012. Photographs by Oculi members. Curated by Sandy Edwards.
  • in-public @ 10, Photofusion, Brixton, London, 2010. Travelled to Les Ballades Photographiques de Seyssel, Seyssel, France, 2011; Photographs by In-Public members.
  • Street Photography Now, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, 2010, and toured to Contributed Studio for the Arts, Berlin, 2010/2011; Museum of Printing, Historical Museum of Warsaw, Warsaw, 2011/2012. Photographs from the book Street Photography Now.
  • Street Photography Now, shop windows throughout the Canal Saint-Martin area, part of Mois de la Photo-OFF, Paris, 2010; Gallery Lichtblick, Cologne, 2010; Uno Art Space, Stuttgart, 2011.
  • Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK, 2011. Exhibition of photographs by In-Public members and the film In-Sight.
  • Excerpts from Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them, German Gymnasium, London Street Photography Festival, London, 2011.
  • From Distant Streets: Contemporary International Street Photography, Galerie Hertz, Louisville, KY, 2011. Part of Louisville Photo Biennial. Curated by Richard Bram. Included 14 In-Public members, of the 29 photographers included.
  • 2012 Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, City of Monash, Melbourne, 2012. Exhibition of various winners.
  • Geomorphometries – Contemporary Terrains, Queensland Centre for Photography, October–November 2012.
  • iN-PUBLiC: An Exhibition of Street Photography, Thailand Creative and Design Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, 2013. In conjunction with the British Council. Photographs by In-Public members.
  • In Public, Snickarbacken 7, Stockholm, Sweden, 2013. Photographs by In-Public members.
  • Miami Street Photography Festival, Miami, FL, 2013. In-Public group exhibition along with other collectives STRATA and CALLE 35.
  • Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them book, Australian Photo Book Of The Year Award exhibition, Asia Pacific Photobook Archive, Melbourne, Australia, 2015. Exhibition of finalists in the book competition.
  • Public Hoarding Project, outside in Chapter House Lane, Melbourne, 2015.
  • Island - Australia, The Copper House Gallery, Dublin, 2015. Part of PhotoIreland 2015 festival.
  • The Sharp Eye. In-Public in Mexico, Foto Mexico, Cine Tonalá, Mexico City, Mexico, 2015. Slideshow of photographs. Curated by Mark Powell, Carlos Álvarez Montero and Alfredo Esparza.

Awards

  • 2006: Selected to take part in World Press Photo's Joop Swart Masterclass, where photojournalists who are considered notable are selected to mentor a group of young photographers.
  • 2007: One of 15 finalists, Leica/Centre for Contemporary Photography Documentary Photography Award, Melbourne for excerpts from Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them.
  • 2011: First prize, London Street Photography Festival - International Street Photography Award, London, for excerpts from Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them.
  • 2012: $25000 first prize, 2012 Bowness Photography Prize, Monash Gallery of Art, Melbourne, Australia, for "Laser vision" from Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them.
  • 2014: One of 15 finalists, Australian Photo Book Of The Year Award, for Don't Just Tell Them, Show Them.

Films with contributions by Marlow

  • In-Sight. 38 minute documentary directed and edited by Nick Turpin, commissioned by Format for Format International Photography Festival, Derby, 2011. Includes interviews with In-Public photographers Marlow, Turpin, Gibson, Solomons, Bram, Einzig, Gus Powell, Agou, and Snoek, and shows them at work.

Collections

Marlow's work is held in the following public collections: