- Humans Remain:
- Photographic Evidence of Life on Earth
- 2020
About Jack Wayne
Jack Wayne as Photographed by Bobbi Lane
Jack Wayne was born in Canada. His first full-time job involved giving motivational talks to inmates of Ontario’s Mental Health Hospitals. Unfortunately the provincial government in the mid-1960s declared all Ontario residents to be sane and Jack found himself unemployed. He went back to school and was awarded a Ph.D. in Sociology.
Dr. Wayne was a professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto for over 30 years. After the third decade Jack realized that his academic career wasn’t working out. He declared his students to be fully educated and turned his attention to textbook publishing. His firm, Canadian Scholars’ Press, is now the leading Canadian-owned textbook publisher in Canada. It enjoyed remarkable growth after Jack sold the company in 2008. Dr. Wayne is a Past-President of the Association of Canadian Publishers.
Jack is now a fine art photographer. He is a member of the Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts in Toronto. His firs solo exhibition, ‘Personal’ was presented at the Propeller Gallery in June, 2017. Jack has exhibited in a number of group exhibitions in addition to his yearly Propeller shows. His Human Remains book was published in October, 2020. He also lectures widely on topics of interest--see below.
Artist Statement: Photography and Society
My art consists of photographic images of people as individuals and in social situations.
My background as a Sociologist compels my camera lens to look for the paradoxical in society and I often find images that invite examination and exploration of our individual and collective lives..Puzzles can be at a small scale (Why is this man reading the magazine with a half-naked woman lying on the picnic table in front of him?) or delve into larger issues (Why is an Aryan-looking man following these Yeshiva boys down a street in Paris?) The images are seldom posed, although I have conversations with many of the people I photograph. And some images have drawn my attention because the scene is so attractive I want to look at it over and over again and share it with others. In recent years I have focussed on street photography broadly understood.. I include In this category beach/water/people scenes in a variety of settings around the world. In the broader vistas individuals are indistinct and the colour, movement and social milieu of the setting is more easily seen. In close up images—on the water or on land—we experience more intimate life.
Recent Activity
My current work is twofold. I take photographs that tell a story, and tell stories about images that I (and others) have created. The photographs on this website have a narrative. The story is not always obvious but--I hope--worth contemplating. Stories I construct from images generally focus on photographs of families. Recent lectures include ‘Revolution, War and Terrorism: Evidence From the Family Photo Album’ (Science for Peace, Toronto), ‘The Meaning of The Photograph: Unlocking the Secrets of the Family Album’ (Humanists of Sarasota Bay), ‘Understanding the Family Through Images,’ Pelican Cove (Florida). 'Seeing America Through a Canadian Lens' (Pelican Cove Photography Club). In January-February 2020 I presented a course--Understanding the Family Through Photographs--to which students brought images and provided interpretations.
Dr. Wayne was a professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto for over 30 years. After the third decade Jack realized that his academic career wasn’t working out. He declared his students to be fully educated and turned his attention to textbook publishing. His firm, Canadian Scholars’ Press, is now the leading Canadian-owned textbook publisher in Canada. It enjoyed remarkable growth after Jack sold the company in 2008. Dr. Wayne is a Past-President of the Association of Canadian Publishers.
Jack is now a fine art photographer. He is a member of the Propeller Centre for the Visual Arts in Toronto. His firs solo exhibition, ‘Personal’ was presented at the Propeller Gallery in June, 2017. Jack has exhibited in a number of group exhibitions in addition to his yearly Propeller shows. His Human Remains book was published in October, 2020. He also lectures widely on topics of interest--see below.
Artist Statement: Photography and Society
My art consists of photographic images of people as individuals and in social situations.
My background as a Sociologist compels my camera lens to look for the paradoxical in society and I often find images that invite examination and exploration of our individual and collective lives..Puzzles can be at a small scale (Why is this man reading the magazine with a half-naked woman lying on the picnic table in front of him?) or delve into larger issues (Why is an Aryan-looking man following these Yeshiva boys down a street in Paris?) The images are seldom posed, although I have conversations with many of the people I photograph. And some images have drawn my attention because the scene is so attractive I want to look at it over and over again and share it with others. In recent years I have focussed on street photography broadly understood.. I include In this category beach/water/people scenes in a variety of settings around the world. In the broader vistas individuals are indistinct and the colour, movement and social milieu of the setting is more easily seen. In close up images—on the water or on land—we experience more intimate life.
Recent Activity
My current work is twofold. I take photographs that tell a story, and tell stories about images that I (and others) have created. The photographs on this website have a narrative. The story is not always obvious but--I hope--worth contemplating. Stories I construct from images generally focus on photographs of families. Recent lectures include ‘Revolution, War and Terrorism: Evidence From the Family Photo Album’ (Science for Peace, Toronto), ‘The Meaning of The Photograph: Unlocking the Secrets of the Family Album’ (Humanists of Sarasota Bay), ‘Understanding the Family Through Images,’ Pelican Cove (Florida). 'Seeing America Through a Canadian Lens' (Pelican Cove Photography Club). In January-February 2020 I presented a course--Understanding the Family Through Photographs--to which students brought images and provided interpretations.
