Jacq Harriet
JACQ HARRIET IS A NYC/LA BASED PHOTOGRAPHER WHOSE EDITORIAL WORK SPANS FASHION, BEAUTY, PORTRAITURE, AND POP CULTURE.
In her fashion-centric work, her images bring control and accessibility to often loud and extravagant pieces through her ability to access and transmit intimacy, subtlety, and arresting vulnerability in her subjects. This is not the kind of work where faces and bodies are abstracted into alien contours or flattened into angled forms; in Jacq’s work we’re reminded that these faces and bodies belong to real people—models, actors, musicians—and their personhood is revealed with charming sensitivity. This knack for photographic disclosure has recently led her to campaigns that focus on alternative representations of heroism, power, and unity in sport. Those images in particular are a welcome tonic that refresh our typically masculinized perceptions of success, excellence, pride, and ferocity; it’s a palpable gaze that connects who is in front of the lens with who is behind it.
Jacq is locked down in New York, but was able to produce this gallery for TSUKI and answer some of our questions about her work and life at this time.
HOW DO YOU CREATE AT HOME? HOW HAS THIS BEEN DIFFERENT FROM YOUR REGULAR PROCESS?
My home environment growing up was always a space for function and purpose. Because I travel quite a bit for work, during this quarantine I’ve been thinking more about making my space more of a visual sanctuary. My apartment is not where I’ve been creating but it’s where I’ve been soaking up lots of photobooks and films and archival materials.
HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO WORK IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD OR YOUR STUDIO DURING THIS SITUATION? OR IS IT JUST FROM HOME?
My friend and frequent collaborator Hannah Richtman (the brains behind the Brooklyn-based community of The Break) has a photo studio in her space where we took some of these images (we met up after following self-quarantine).
HAS THIS SITUATION ENCOURAGED OR EVEN DEMANDED YOU TO TRY SOMETHING NEW?
My photography has always been excited by the shapes and poses that the body can take. A lot of the direction I give during a photoshoot has to do with balancing into weird and fun positions that seem sometimes effortless but in reality take a lot of strength. I’ve been taking more time to work on taking care of my body through yoga and exercise and seeing myself in the mirror during this period. Though I love fashion with a sense of structure and texture, one of the purest forms of material we have to examine and tend to right now is our (naked) bodies. Getting to photograph my friend Hannah when we so often are used to creating concepts for other models is such a unique opportunity to realize what we can attempt when we are stripped of our usual resources or conditions.
HOW ARE YOU STAYING INSPIRED AND MOTIVATED?
My body of work hinges on working with subjects—portraiture is truly the center of what I do. Since I've been quarantining alone (by choice!) it's forced me to think about why I do what I do (I love people! I love interactions!) and how I'll make use of my voice when this ends. I'm being super gentle with myself and I'm not focused on creating right now—we're still inside of this moment in time and I think my energy is best spent synthesizing the experience and thinking about the type of work I will make as a reaction to what's happening now.
WHO ELSE'S WORK MIGHT YOU WANT TO SEE FEATURED ON TSUKI?
My friend Marisa Chafetz! She has a way of making her everyday and family life come alive in ways that make the mundane beautiful.
HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING / LISTENING / READING ANYTHING INTERESTING?
I love the podcast “Terrible, Thanks for Asking”. It’s about grief and about being with and sitting with the feelings of being in the thick of it. It’s refreshing to hear so many stories that aren’t wrapped up in a pretty bow, and Nora’s monologues (and voice) are incredibly comforting.