James Autery began photographing and printing in the darkroom in high school. He attended the University of Missouri-Columbia to study photojournalism, becoming a finalist in the Gorden Parks International Photo Competition in 2006. After dropping out of college, he started documenting train hoppers and living that lifestyle for two years. In 2014 he became a full-time freelance photographer and video artist and made a mini documentary with the organization Project Prakash on their work studying the ability of prediction among children with autism. In 2017 he started filming for TIME. In 2018 he exhibited alongside Carolee Schneemann for the Hudson Winter Walk and filmed her in 2019. He has had exhibitions with Tanja Grunert Gallery, Second Ward Foundation, Film Makers Cooperative, Private Public Gallery, Areté Venue and Gallery, Next to Nothing, Hudson Eye, Hudson Hall, Minneapolis Photo Center, Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, and has had work listed on Paddle8. He has been an artist in residence with Second Ward Foundation for 3 years in which he completed a 46 minute film, Mantra, an experimental documentary about the meditation of making art. He has been granted the NYSCA Electronic Media/Film fund in partnership with Wave Farm’s Media Arts Assistance Fund program. He was also a recipient of the Baer Faxt 2020 artist relief fund.
Solo Exhibition
2023 Sight Unseen, Private Public Gallery, Hudson, NY
2022 Local Premiere of MANTRA, Second Ward Foundation, Hudson, NY
2021 Agnosia, Tanja Grunert Gallery, Hudson, NY
2020 Remnant, Hudson Eye, Hudson, NY
2018 Reverberations, Areté Venue and Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2015 Selected Work, Hudson Opera House, Hudson, NY
Two-Person Exhibition
2018 Carolee Schneemann and James Autery, Second Ward Foundation at Winter Walk, Hudson, NY
Three-Person Exhibition
2022 James Autery, David McIntyre, and David Perry, Ephemeral, Second Ward Foundation Gallery, Hudson, NY
Group Exhibition
2024 Wild Minds, Second Ward Foundation, Hudson, NY
2022 First Chapter, Tanja Grunert Gallery, Hudson, NY
2017 Film-Maker’s Coop Paddle8 Art Auction, Next to Nothing Gallery, NYC, NY
2014 With Gentle Wings and a Cohort of Confusion, Private Home, Hudson, NY
2012 The Human Condition: A Survey of Humanity, MPLS Photo Center Minneapolis, MN
2012 Arrhythmic Visions, Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, Santa Fe, NM
Awards
2019 NYSCA Electronic Media/Film Fund in partnership with Wave Farm’s Media Arts Assistance Fund program
Residency
Second Ward Artist-in-Residence (2018 – Ongoing)
Filmography
Agnosia (2021) agnosiafilm.com
MANTRA (2018-21) mantra-film.com
Festival Selections and Awards
Official Selection kalakari film fest (2022)
Semi-finalist International Moving Film Festival (2021)
Semi-finalist Dumbo Film Festival (2021)
Best Sound Rome Independent Prisma Awards (May 2021)
Finalist Best Experimental Film Rome Independent Prisma Awards (May 2021)
Commercial Work
TIME, Upstate Diary, Travel + Leisure, Entity Magazine