Photographer based in Lubbock, TX
Joshua Mokry, Portrait of the Photographer.
Tell us about yourself, what's your background?
I was born and raised in Houston, Texas and didn't start making photographic art until high school. My first introduction to photography started in the darkroom. Before taking an interest in photography, I first fell in love with making prints by experimenting with lensless based photograms and alternative processes. It wasn't until applying my love for process and making images with a large format view camera that I started to fall in love with creating images. I view photography as a very multi-layered medium - making the actual image, printing that image, and installing that image. Sometimes, I will spend months on making actual images and building an archive without ever making prints or installing. Although, I do believe it is important and try to make an effort to give time to all three as they do inform one another. I knew I wanted to be an artist when I started to love all the layers of practice that photography brings.
Watch, 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 56x40 inches
“I am interested in the limitations of the human body both for myself and my audience and creating a gallery space where sight is limited brings other senses in the space that help one become aware of your own body."
Reflect, 2024
What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?
I am currently working with cave ecosystems to talk more largely about the environment and human interference in nonhuman spaces. The inspiration for this work simply came from living and being a part of the caving world. Before starting this project, I became a caver as a hobby during my MFA program. I met a lot of great people through it and have seen some incredible things. Caving is an interesting sport because it's a recreational activity that usually involves ecological restoration. There are some caving trips that don't involve restoration, but those don't seem to interest me anymore. Caving is a group activity while also feeling very secluded due to the tight spaces. It's also a dangerous sport that requires you to depend on others with your own life. You have to put a lot of trust into others.
Measure, 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 15x21 inches
My work is starting to shift in a big way with this only being the tip of the iceberg. I like to view this current work as a kind of visual resource archive with most pieces living in a book and a few select pieces dispersed throughout my installations. While this photographic work is creating a documentation of my visual experiences in the cave, my sculptures, art performances, and sound art pieces are starting to think more about the real vs. the represented and perceptions vs. sensations. I am interested in the limitations of the human body both for myself and my audience and creating a gallery space where sight is limited brings other senses in the space that help one become aware of your own body.
(Left) Notice, 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 25x20 inches. (Right) Descend, 2024, Archival Inkjet Print, 25x20 inches
Self-Portrait, 2025, Archival Inkjet Print, 21x15 inches
Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?
Having a visually active imagination greatly helps with my art practice, and I personally find that reading (especially fiction) really helps build and maintain that skill. The ability to visualize space, events, and actions have not only improved the timing of my photography for key moments, but also work through and live in an installation while I am away from the gallery. I also look at and absorb a lot of art in-person, making an effort to go to the MFAH, HCP, and The Menil whenever I'm in my hometown of Houston, TX.
Installation experiment with space.
Installation experiment with the image.
Describe your practice and process. Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?
I use photography to engage myself with the world. Living and being present will always come first before making artwork. After being present and experiencing the world, a restful routine helps solidify that information. Taking naps is one of the most important routines I do. I generate most of my ideas and make most of my decisions around the first hour before trying to fall asleep or after waking up.
(Left) Installation experiment with light and image. (Right) Work experiment with performance in the studio.
Installation experiment with sculpture and sound performance.
How do you make your work, does it start with a sketch?
In the studio, I prefer to not spend too long on one thing, but to spend a small amount of time on several different things. I'll usually pull from an archive of ideas that I've had from my napping/sleeping routine. I also like to work intuitively in a space and react or make decisions in that space, not relying strictly to my initial ideas.
Work experiment with solarization and photographic process.
Many artists live by their routines, what does that look like for you?
Right now, my routine is to procrastinate a few days before a critique and actualize all of my ideas I have been building in my head in a very small amount of time. It sounds silly, but I seem to excel in that environment. In a weird way, that also translates to my caving work, as we are always on a very strict time-schedule underground. With restoration being my main objective, photography becomes secondary and fast-paced. I also have a napping routine that is incredibly important to generating ideas.
Studio view
Who are your biggest influences?
First and foremost, my mentors and teachers who have taught me everything I know starting from my highschool teacher to the faculty at Montana State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, and Texas Tech University.
For this work in particular, Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel's photobook titled Evidence. The visual absurdity of those images and the way its sequence provides the viewer with more questions than answers. I love artwork that doesn't give you all the answers or will never know an answer to begin with.
Other influences of mine are Dionne Lee, Tacita Dean, Lew Thomas, Matthew Barney, Jungjin Lee, Masao Yamamoto, Ron Jude, and Mike Osborne.
Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?
I am currently in the middle of the book series titled The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and I highly recommend it. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is my go-to reread every few years. These books really help maintain a visually active imagination. Also, Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's In Praise of Shadows and Juhani Pallasmaa's Eyes of the Skin helps me think less about sight and more about the other senses in a space.
Document, Archival Inkjet Print, 20 x25 inches
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Don't be a perfectionist and always be a student throughout life.
What is the best advice you would give to other artists?
Be present in what you are making art about. If you are photographing a certain environment, take your time without a camera to really learn, absorb, see with your eyes, and feel with your body. If you are making an installation, be alone in that space and discover. Always stay curious about the world. Always experiment.
Portrait of the Photographer at work.
Stay up to date with Joshua Mokry
Websites joshuamokry.com / afaikcollective.net
Instagram @jamokry