Jean Sousa

Film & Photography

Chicago-based artist, Jean Sousa, has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and is the recipient of two Artist Fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and a Regional Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. She was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome in 2014 and 2017. Awards include a residency at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Tyrone Guthrie Center in Annaghhmakerrig, Ireland, the Cliff Dwellers Fellowship for Artist Residency at Ragdale, and a Professional Artist in Residence at Oxbow in Saugatuck, Michigan. Ms. Sousa works primarily in photography and experimental film. Her photographic work has been in exhibitions at the Southeast Museum of Photography in Florida, the Union League Club of Chicago, the Illinois State Museum, San Francisco Camerawork, and the Rockford Art Museum among other venues. Ten of her photographs were recently included in the Midwest Photographers Project of the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. Her films have been screened at Anthology Film Archives in New York, the London Filmmakers Cooperative, Collectif Jeune Cinéma in Paris, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Cinematheque in San Francisco, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Ms. Sousa was formerly the Trott Family Director of Interpretive Exhibitions and Family Programs at the Art Institute of Chicago. As a museum educator, she served as Chair and panelist at numerous national and international conferences including the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and the National Gallery of Ireland. Ms. Sousa has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the MIT Summer Institute for Film, Photography, and Video at Hampshire College. She received her BFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the author of “Faces, Places, & Inner Spaces,” a book for young readers, co-published by Abrams and the Art Institute of Chicago, and reviewed by the New York Times Book Review.

Selected Exhibitions and Film Screenings:

Celluloid Now, A Project of the Chicago Film Society, Chicago Cultural Center, 9/24/2023 The Filmmakers Coop, New York, New Year New Work, 2/9/2022. Truckenbrod Gallery, Corvallis, Oregon, Confluence 5/7-5/29/21 Microscope Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Where are We Going 11/16/2020
Chicago Film Archives, 2020 Media Mixer 9/16/2020
San Francisco Cinematheque, Crossroads 2020 8/21-9/30/2020
Center for Photography at Woodstock, Photography Now: The Searchers 11/9/19-1/19/2020
Var West Gallery, Milwaukee, More Pink Noise: Work by Stella Collective 10/25/19-1/11/20
Chicago Filmmakers, Film Poems & 16mm Shorts 10/5/2019
Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona State College, FL 2/19 - 5/4/2019
Davis Orton Gallery, Hudson, NY, 4th Annual Group Show 7/14-8/12/2018
The Mary-Frances and Bill Veeck Gallery, CTU, Chicago, IL. Pink Noise 2/9/-4/27-2018
The Arts Club of Chicago, 88th Member Exhibition 1/19/-2/24/2018
Union League Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL Autumn Blossoms 10/25-11/26/2017
Griffin Museum of Photography, Lafayette Center, Boston, Visual Metric 8/1/-11/7/2017
San Francisco Camerawork, San Francisco, CA, Circus 7/13-8/19/2017
Syracuse University, New York, Between Pop Culture & the Avant-Garde 11/14/2016
Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center, Buffalo, New York 11/16/2016
555 Gallery, Boston, MA, Launch 1/23-2/20/2016
Anthology Film Archives, New York, New Filmmakers 11/25/2015
Spectacle Theatre, Brooklyn, New York, New Filmmakers 11/13/2015
Southern Illinois Art Gallery, Illinois State Museum, Rend Lake, IL 11/9/2014-3/15/2015
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, The Nature of a Collective 10/3-11/30, 2014
Noyes Cultural Center, Evanston, IL, Sight Unseen 9/10/14-11/6/2014
Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL, Fragile Relations 3/23/-8/31/2014
David Weinberg Gallery, Chicago, Mapping: Borders, Bodies, Memories 9/26-10/6/2013
Philadelphia Photo Arts Center, Philadelphia, PA 8/3-8/24/2013
Lockport Gallery, Illinois State Museum, Lockport, IL, Fragile Relations 5/28-10/25/2013
Cliff Dwellers, 200 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Inspired by Nature* 4/3-5/4/2013
Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery, State of Illinois Building 10/2/2012-2/1/2013
Chicago Photography Collective Gallery at Block 37, In Opposition 2/2-3/15/2012
Chicago Photography Center, 3301 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago* 9/9-9/30/2011
Audible Gallery, Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, Peony Blossoms* 1/21-3/6/2011
Chicago Artists Coalition, 24/24 Photography, River East Art Center 10/14-11/4/2009
Mars Gallery, 1139 W. Fulton Market, Chicago, Forest Floor and Prairie* 6/19-7/15/2009
Evanston Art Center, Trace/Memory, group exhibition 1/11-2/15/2009
Evanston Art Center, 19th Evanston + Vicinity Biennial 2008 6/1-7/1/2008
Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Michigan City, Indiana, Photography Now 4/26-7/6/2008
Chicago Cultural Center, ArtFutura 2008 3/25-4/3/2008
The Art Center, Highland Park, Il., Photography 2007 4/13-5/25/2007
FLATFILEgalleries, Chicago, Fotowerk 2008, Fotowerk 2006, 9-10/06; 9-10/2008
Festival international de jeune cinema, Paris, France 12/5-12/12/2005
Hyde Park Art Center, Just Good Art 2005, Exhibit & Benefit Auction 10/24-11/12/2005
Beverly Art Center, 28th Annual Plaza Art Competition 11/18/04-1/8/2005
Loyola University Chicago Print Biennial, Crown Center Gallery 6/14-7/25/2004
Rockford Art Museum, 2004 Rockford Midwestern Exhibition 5/14/04-7/25/2004
Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of American Art, 2/19-2/27/2004
Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tennessee 9/13-9/29/2002
Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show 5/3-6/24/2002
A.R.C. Gallery, National I, 734 N. Milwaukee, Chicago 6/5/01-7/28/2001
Betty Rymer Gallery, Face Off, School of the Art Institute of Chicago 3/01-5/2001
Museum of Contemporary Art, Art in Chicago, 1945-1995, 11/96-3/1997
Time Arts Chicago, Made in Chicago: Independent Film 1/1997
N.A.M.E. Gallery, 361 West Superior, Chicago 2/5/1993
Columbia College, Women in the Directors Chair 3/1-3/3/1990
The Film Center, Art Institute of Chicago* 2/78;10/82;6/84;1/1988
Experimental Film Coalition, Women’s Moving Pictures 1/1988
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, California* 9/23/1987
Frankfurt Film Exchange, Frankfurt, West Germany 10/31/1987
London Filmmakers Cooperative, England* 10/9/1987
Randolph Street Gallery, Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago 9/26/1987
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, Michigan 3/1987, 3/1986
Chicago Filmmakers, 6 W. Hubbard St., Chicago* 6/1981; 1/1985; 11/1987
Millennium, 6 E. 4th St., New York, New York* 5/1980; 6/1983; 1/1987
Nova Scotia College of Art & Design 10/1986
The Funnel, Toronto, Canada* 10/1980; 11/1983; 5/1986
Image Forum Cinematheque, Tokyo, Japan 1/23-26/1986
Nagatsuji Kyouzou Studio, Nagoya, Japan 3/2/1986
Artists Space, New York City, Film Program 10/25/1985
Detroit Project for the Arts, Detroit, Michigan* 11/17/1984
Boston Film & Video Foundation, Boston, Ma.* 11/1979; 12/1981; 3/1984
Women in the Directors Chair, Chicago, Illinois 10/1984; 12/ 1982
The Cinematheque, San Francisco, California* 5/13/1982
Mills College, Oakland, California* 5/12/1982
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Ma. 12/4-5/1981
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Ma.* 12/16/1981
Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis, MI 5/12/1980
* Solo Exhibitions & Film Screenings

Visiting Artist and Professional Artist Residencies:
American Academy in Rome, Italy, Visiting Artist 4/10-5/1/2017; 10-11/2014
Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), Amherst, Virginia, Artist Residency 3/2008, 10/2010, 10/2013
Ragdale, Lake Forest, Illinois, Artist Residency 10/2006, 10/2009
Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, County Monaghan, Ireland – Artist Residency 10/2007
Ox-Bow Summer School for Art, Artist-in-Residence 6/2006
Southern Illinois University (SIU), Big Muddy Film Festival, Visiting Artist 3/1995
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, Visiting Artist 11/1990
University of Chicago, Art Department, Visiting Artist 9/1988
Hampshire College, Amherst, Ma., Visiting Artist 3/1986
Art Institute of Boston, 700 Beacon St., Boston, Ma., Visiting Artist 3/1986
The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Ma., Visiting Artist 10/1984
Mission College, Santa Clara, California, Visiting Artist 5/1982

Grants and Fellowships:
Interbay Cinema Society, Lightpress Grant, 2021 Cliff Dwellers Foundation Fellowship for Ragdale Residency Chicago 2006
Illinois Arts Council, Special Assistance Grant, Photography 1989
Illinois Arts Council, Artists Fellowship, Film 1985, 1986
National Endowment for the Arts, Regional Fellowship, Film 1983, 1986
Illinois Arts Council, Project Completion Grant, Film 1978, 1980, 1982

Awards and Festivals:
Canyon Cinema Touring Program, Studies in Natural Magic:
Logan Center, University of Chicago 1/12/2018
Speed Art Museum, Louisville Kentucky 1/21/2018
Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, Cleveland, Ohio 1/27/2018
Microlights, Milwaukee, WI 2/4/2018
Northwest Film Forum, Seattle, WA 2/8/2018
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 3/9/2018
Big Ears Festival, Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN 3/24/2018
Verge Center for the Arts, Sacramento, CA 3/15/2018
Harpur Cinema, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 3/27/2018
Cornell Cinema, Ithaca, NY 3/28/2018
DIM Cinema, Vancouver, BC 4/11/2018
Anthology Film Archives, New York NY 4/27/2018
AFS Cinema, Austin, Texas 5/14/2018
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA 7/13/2018
Storyline Transport: Shadow and Light Festival, The Experimental Station, Chicago 8/20/2010
One-Minute Film Festival, Summer Sounds, Sound & Vision, Art Institute of Chicago 8/13/2010
Beverly Art Center, 28th Annual Plaza Art Competition, Award for Best Digital Photo Work 11/2004 – 1/2005
Rockford Art Museum, 2004 Midwestern Exhibition, Finalist for Purchase Prize 5/04-7/2004
Seventeenth Annual Big Muddy Film Festival, Panelist and Guest Artist 2/95-3/1995
19th Annual Humboldt Film Festival Prize 3/1986
2nd Annual Onion City Film Festival, 1st Prize 4/1985
Women in the Director’s Chair Festival, Chicago, IL 10/1984; 12/1982
New Music Chicago, Film Score for Live Music Performance 1982
Festival international de jeune cenema, Hyere, Southern France 8/79-9/1979
3rd International Festival of Avant-Garde Film, National Film Theatre, London, England 6/1979

Publicity:

Lenscratch, Interview by Daniel George, The Alice Project, 11/16/2022 Viewfinder, Into the White, by Elin Spring and Suzanne Revy, 5/2020 Best Photo Picks August 2018, Visual Metric, Griffin Museum of Photography at Lafayette Center, Boston, 8/2018
The Nature of a Collective What Will You Remember, Photography blog by Elin Spring, 2014
WTTW Chicago Tonight, Review of Fragile Relations: Art, Nature, and Environment by Mark Vitali, 1/17/2012
Chicago Tribune, Arts & Entertainment, Pick of the Week, Fragile Relations: Art, Nature, and Environment, 12/6/2012
New City, Fall Art Preview 2011, solo exhibition at Chicago Photography Center, by Michael Weinsten
New City, Trace/Memory, 2009, group exhibition at the Evanston Art Center, by Claudine Ise
New City, Sepia, 2009, group exhibition at Mars Gallery, by Michael Weinstein
Critics Choice, Chicago Reader, Art in Chicago, 1945-1995, Time Arts Chicago, Made in Chicago: Independent Film, Museum of Contemporary Art, January 1997
Critics Choice, Chicago Reader, October 1987, Onion City Film Festival, Jonathan Rosenbaum
New Art Examiner, March1985, Review of Illinois Arts Council Regional Fellowship Award recipients by Peter Keogh
Spiral No. 1, October 1984, An Independent Film Publication, by Wendy Brabner
High Performance Magazine, Spring-Summer 1982, Chicago Performance: An Annotated Guide, by Christine Tamblyn
ARTFORUM, December 1979, Review of Perf/Doc show at N.A.M.E. Gallery, C.L. Morrison
Chicago Reader, March 1979, Review of solo film screening at Chicago Filmmakers, by B. Ruby Rich