Artist Bio: Jacqueline Ramirez is a San Diego based artist and educator who has been photographing since high school when she received her first Kodak Instamatic camera. She received a BA in Journalism (Photojournalism emphasis) from SDSU. Inspired by the work of Robert Frank and the creative energy of early punk rock culture, she pursued a spontaneous documentary style which led to further experimentation with pictorial organization, content, and alternative printing and process techniques. She has photographed many notable punk rock artists including the Ramones, Patti Smith and Richard Hell. Several of her photographs and issues of Substitute, San Diego’s first alternative music zine (which she co-edited) are currently included in I’m Not Like You: Notes from the San Diego Underground at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park, an exhibit with celebrates the independent, uniquely creative spirit that distinguished skate, punk and hip-hop culture from the 1970s through the 1990s in San Diego. She received her MFA in Creative Photography from California State University, Fullerton in 1997. Her images are characterized by continual experimentation as well as examination and analysis of ordinary, unremarkable moments and sites which characterize contemporary society. Her cameras of choice include several vintage Diana cameras, Nikon FM, Holga and iPhone. She is an educator at Grossmont and San Diego Mesa College who believes a beautiful thing is never perfect and “the best teacher is also a student” (fortune cookie message).
