THE UNCHOSEN ONES | Deluxe Edition Portfolio
The Deluxe Edition Portfolio includes twelve photographs and video interviews from The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral. Designed specifically for university art museums and collections, this portfolio operates as an exhibition and educational tool.
Twelve 16 x 20 inch photographs signed, titled, and numbered verso in archival ink by R. J. Kern, printed on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Ultra Smooth (305 gsm) paper with archival pigment inks by Ethan Jones. Ten prints chosen by the artist, the remaining two chosen at acquisition from the signed, special edition of The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral (MW Editions, 2021).
Custom portfolio box and accordion book made by R. J. Kern in Minneapolis, Minnesota. QR codes link to the video documentary vignettes, available for direct download with acquisition.
The Deluxe Edition Portfolio debuted at the artist’s third solo exhibition with Burnet Fine Art & Advisory in Wayzata, Minnesota, May 21 - July 2, 2022. Edition of 10 + AP, sized 17 x 21 x 2 inches.
THE UNCHOSEN ONES | Collector’s Edition
Edition 35 of 50 currently available
Edition of 50 + 10AP books
Includes “American Denim" cover with tipped in photograph front and back, embossed and foil stamping, signed & numbered by artist
Choice of TWO 11 x 14 inch archival pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 gsm, signed, numbered, & dated on verso, limited to edition of 10 + 2AP (prints may not be the same).
Custom “American Denim” print folio handmade by the artist
After purchase, customer will receive an email with PDF to select prints.
Once print edition reaches 10, the edition will close. Pricing to increase as edition sells out.
Book Specifications: ISBN: 9781735762937, Denim Clothbound with tipped in photographs front and back, 9 1/4 x 11 3/4", 136 pages, 111 color photographs
Choice of PORTRAIT or LANDSCAPE folio depends on portrait selection.
THE UNCHOSEN ONES | Trade Edition
A new book by award-winning Minneapolis-based photographer R. J. Kern, The Unchosen Ones (MW Editions, 2021) features portraits of future farmers in America’s heartland. Kern’s subjects are Minnesota 4-H members, each of whom spent a year raising an animal then entered it into a 4-H competition. He first photographed them in 2016, and none of the children who sat for him succeeded in winning first prize, despite the obvious care they had given to their animals. The formal qualities of Kern’s lighting and setting endow these young people with a gravitas beyond their years, revealing self-directed dedication in some, and in others, perhaps, the pressures of traditions imposed upon them. Four years later, in 2020, Kern returned to photograph and interview his young subjects. As he took the second group of photographs, Kern inquired about what his young subjects had carried forward from their previous experience. What were their thoughts, their advice, their dreams and their goals for the future? How do they fit in future agricultural America? The new images are poignant when juxtaposed with the originals, tapping into the mindset of America’s agricultural youth. These beautiful portraits capture a certain America, a rural world, and a time in life when the layered emotions of youth are laid bare.
Book Specifications: ISBN: 9781735762937, 9 1/4 x 11 3/4", 136 pages, 111 color photographs
AWARDS AND HONORS
This critically-acclaimed series of work has been exhibited and published internationally. Honors include:
First Place, CENTER Curator’s Choice Award, juror Corey Keller, Curator of Photography, SF Museum of Modern Art, 2017
Second Place, International Juried Exhibition, juror Philip Brookman, Consulting Curator, National Galley of Art, Washington, DC, 2017
Silver Medal, The Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition 160, London, England, 2017
Finalist, Renaissance Photography Prize, London, England, 2017
Critical Mass “Top 50”, Photolucida, Portland, OR, 2018
Honorable Mention Photography, Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, juried by Areca Roe, St Paul, MN, 2018
First Place Photography, Arts in Harmony International Juried Art Show, Blaine, MN, 2018
Award of Excellence, Communication Arts 2018 Photo Annual, 2018
"Great State of Minnesota Award" by Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, 2018
Second Place, 6th Open Call, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Juror Aline Smithson, 2019
First Place, San Francisco Bay International Photography Competition and Exhibition, juried by Elizabeth Avedon, Julie Grahame, Ann M. Jastrab, and David Garnick, 2019
Honorable Mention, 56th Annual Juried Competition Exhibition, Masur Museum of Art, Juror Catherine Futter, 2019
Director’s Honorable Mention, Life, A Smith Gallery, Juror Alyssa Coppelman, 2021
Award of Excellence, Communication Arts Photography Annual 62, 2021
Selected Winner, American Photography 37, 2021
Shortlisted, The Royal Photographic Society’s International Photography Exhibition 163, 2021
Open Call Winner, Helsinki Photo Festival, 2021
Editors’ Pick,The Independent Photographer Portrait Award, 2021
Editors’ Pick, Life Framer: Youthhood, 2021
Shortlisted, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award, 2021
Honorable Mention, International Photography Awards, One Shot - Our Times: Isolation, 2021
Honorable Mention, 110th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Juror Carla Rodriguez, 2021
First Place, International Photography Awards, Portrait / Lifestyle category, 2021
Critical Mass “Top 50”, Photolucida, Portland, OR, 2021
EXHIBITIONS
Exhibitions and curation form the backbone of photographic art. I am proud to be apart of these exhibitions with this body of work:
Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2017, National Portrait Gallery, London, England, 2017
The FENCE: A Public Photography Exhibition Series, United Photo Industries in Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; Atlanta, GA; Houston, TX; Santa Fe, NM; Durham, NC; Denver, CO, 2017
Americana, juried by Darren Ching, Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO, 2017
Rokko Photographic Garden, curated by Takeki Sugiyama, exhibited in Kobe, Japan, 2018
Allegany National Photographic Exhibition, juried by Karen Irvine (Chief Curator and Deputy Director; Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago), Cumberland, MD, 2018
Yixian International Photography Festival, curated by Guo Jing, Anhui, China, 2018
First Annual Photobook Juried Exhibition, juried by Mary Virginia Swanson, Alice Whiteside, and Dave Wofford, 2018
States of Becoming, Ninth Annual International Juried Exhibition juried by Carrie Dedon, (Assistant Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Seattle Art Museum), 2019
Photowork 2019: 32nd Annual National Juried Photography Exhibition juried by James A. Ganz (Senior Curator of Photography, J. Paul Getty Museum), 2019
6th Open Call juried by Aline Smithson, Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI, 2019
Triangulate, curated by Nathan Beard, Eivind Natvig, and Kirk Ke Wang, Lofoten International Photo Festival, 2019
Arts North, juried by Curt Pederson, The American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN, 2019
56th Annual Juried Competition Exhibition, juried by Catherine Futter (Director of Curatorial Affairs, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art), Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA, 2019
San Francisco Bay International Photography Exhibition, juried by Elizabeth Avedon, Julie Grahame, Ann M. Jastrab, and David Garnick, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, CA, 2019
Brand 47 Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper, juried by Alma Ruiz, Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA, 2019
High Visibility: On Location in Rural America and Indian Country, curated by Matthew Fluharty, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND, 2021
Life, juried by Alyssa Coppelman, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, 2021
Photography: A Sense of Place, juried by Jacqui Palumbo, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
Reimagining Hope, Juror: Samantha Johnston, Month of Photography Denver Festival, Denver, CO, 2021
Time Capsule, Juror: Shamim M. Momin, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA , 2021
Focus Friday, Curator: Christine Renc-Carter, Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art, Tarpon Springs, FL, 2021
Photography: A Sense of Place, Juror: Jacqui Palumbo, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
Life, Juror: Alyssa Coppelman, A Smith Gallery, Johnson City, TX, 2021
Houston Center of Photography Print Auction 2021 Exhibition, Houston Center of Photography, Houston, TX, 2021
110th Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition, Juror Carla Rodriguez, St. Paul, MN, 2021
Helsinki Photo Festival, Helsinki, Finland, 2021
The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral, Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, 2021
What We Know: Atlanta Celebrates Photography Festival — Ones To Watch, Curator: Mary Stanley, MINT Gallery, Atlanta, GA, 2021
Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia, 2021
Portraits without Borders, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain, Berlin, Germany, 2021
International Photography Festival of Castilla y León, Palencia, Spain, 2022
FotoFest Biennial Fine Print Auction Exhibition, Curator: Steven Evans, Houston, TX, 2022
Eyes on Main Street (8th Edition), curated by Ghadah Alrawi, Jérôme De Perlinghi, and Carol Johnson, Wilson, NC, 2022-2023
In addition, the work has been featured in National Geographic, The Guardian, the BBC, PBS, PDN, and the Royal Photographic Society Journal.
Essay Excerpt by Alison Nordström:
The Unchosen Ones stands as a document of these subjects, and of specific hot summer afternoons in Minnesota; I don’t doubt that a hundred years from now, viewers of these photographs will marvel at their truth and greedily consume every fact and detail. This is what documentary photography is intended to do, but the best examples of it—as this work is—transcend the specificity of time and place. Kern has preserved decisive moments in photography that are also universal human moments. Youth is fleeting. Disappointment is inevitable. Kids grow up. Love endures. We carry on.
– Excerpt from the essay, Why Photograph Animals, by Alison Nordström, PhD, independent scholar, curator, and writer