Jeremy Dennis (b. 1990, Southampton, NY) is a contemporary fine art photographer. Dennis' work explores Indigenous identity, culture, and assimilation. In 2013, the artist began working on the series Stories—Indigenous Oral Stories, Dreams, and Myths, in which Dennis staged supernatural images that transform indigenous myths and legends into realized experiences.
Dennis holds an MFA from Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, and a BA in Studio Art from Stony Brook. The artist was among ten recipients of the 2016 Dreamstarter Grant from the national non-profit organization Running Strong for American Indian Youth. Awarded $10,000 to pursue his project, On This Site – Indigenous Long Island, Dennis used photography and an interactive online map to showcase culturally significant Native American sites. Dennis is also known for his two ongoing 2018 series, both Rise and Nothing Happened Here. These bodies of work present themes of belonging, reconciliation, decolonization, and invisibility to the viewer from the Indigenous lens. Most recently, Dennis received the Artist to Artist Fellowship from the Art Matter Foundation.
Aicon Contemporary would be remiss without mentioning Dennis' extensive residency list: Andy Warhol Visual Arts Program (2023), SmokeSygnals (2021), Lightworks (2021), Santa Fe Art Institute (2021), Yaddo (2019), Byrdcliffe Artist Colony (2017), MDOC Storytellers’ Institute, Saratoga Springs, NY (2018), Byrdcliffe Art Residency (2018), Eyes on Main Street Residency & Festival, Wilson, NC (2018), Watermill Center, Watermill, NY (2017), and the Vermont Studio Center hosted by the Harpo Foundation (2016). Additionally, Dennis has exhibited at So Spoke the Earth, the Past, and the Present at the Mason Gross Galeries at Rutgers University, NJ, Stories—Dreams, Myths, and Experiences, for The Parrish Art Museum’s Road Show (2018), Stories, From Where We Came, The Department of Art Gallery, Stony Brook University (2018); Trees Also Speak, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, SUNY College at Old Westbury, NY (2018); Nothing Happened Here, Flecker Gallery at Suffolk County Community College, Selden, NY (2018); On This Site: Indigenous People of Suffolk County, Suffolk County Historical Society, Riverhead, NY (2017); and Pauppukkeewis, Zoller Gallery, State College, PA (2016).Dennis currently serves on the advisory board of the Boys & Girls Club of Shinnecock Nation, The Church of Sag Harbor, Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc., and WNET Group’s THIRTEEN/WLIW Community Advisory Board.
The artist lives and works in Southampton, New York, on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation.