Jess T. Dugan (American, b. 1986) is an artist and writer whose work explores the complexities of personhood, relationships, desire, love, and family. Their multidisciplinary practice includes photography, writing, video, sound, drawing, and installation. Their work is informed by their own life experiences, including their identity as a queer and non-binary person, and reflects a deep belief in the importance of representation and the transformative power of storytelling.
Their work is regularly exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collections of over 70 museums, including:
George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA.
Their books include: Look at me like you love me (MACK, 2022); To Survive on This Shore: Photographs and Interviews with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults (Kehrer Verlag, 2018); and Every Breath We Drew (Daylight Books, 2015).
In 2026, they will release Love Pictures, a survey book of their work made in collaboration with curator Charlotte Cotton, published by Radius Books.
They are the recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, an ICP Infinity Award, and were selected by the Obama White House as an LGBT Artist Champion of Change. They currently live and work in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.