Jack Wayne
People and Places
Recent Work 2020
People and Places
Recent Work 2020
Susan at the Whitney
Girl in the Mirror
The Chickens' Office
Doll with a broken leg
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 solo exhibition, ‘Personal’ was on display in June, 2017. His 2018 solo show, "Humans Remain: Photographic Evidence of Life on Earth," was well attended, especially by children and their dog from the neighbourhood looking for bubble gum from the preceding exhibit. In addition he has shown his images in juried and non-juried shows. In 2019 Jack's work will be exhibited in Florida and there will be a major new show--On The Beach—at the Propeller Gallery in Toronto May 13 to 24. This exhibition will be part of the 2020 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
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 solo exhibition, ‘Personal’ was on display in June, 2017. His 2018 solo show, "Humans Remain: Photographic Evidence of Life on Earth," was well attended, especially by children and their dog from the neighbourhood looking for bubble gum from the preceding exhibit. In addition he has shown his images in juried and non-juried shows. In 2019 Jack's work will be exhibited in Florida and there will be a major new show--On The Beach—at the Propeller Gallery in Toronto May 13 to 24. This exhibition will be part of the 2020 Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.
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.
Selections from Jack's 2020 exhibition, On The Beach,
opening May 13, 2020, Propeller Gallery, Toronto
Photographer on the Beach
Getting Ready for the Day
Spacebeach
