Jon Martin Fine Art Photographer

Three of my fine art photographs have been chosen to be part of black history month in Manchester in the UK. The exhibition is called “Location Relative”  and will be held in the Contact space in Manchester  as part of its “Afro Vibes” festival  featuring contemporary theater, dance, spoken word and music from South Africa to Manchester.The three pieces are:

Totem bowls (Some of these bowls were broken in the belly of a ship on their journey to America) was made in 2008 in London. Three of the bowls were bought in Brixton from a British Nigerian potter the others were bought in various London charity shops. I was trying to unite my love of design with my photography to create something new. On moving to America in 2010 some of the bowls were broken in shipping, giving the piece the subtitle, whilst others were broken in daily use. As another fragile vessel this has highlighted for me the magic of photography holding small slivers of time still for ever.

Design totems was made in 2009 in London. Here I was trying to create my design totems to express my own aesthetic language, a careful balance of the kitsch, ancient, natural, eternal, fake, elegant, and fools gold, using some of my favorite objects.

Animal totems was made in 2011 in Hoboken New Jersey, USA. I found this group of characters that just demanded to be captured. My favorite thing about this work is seeing my feet in socks reflected in the golden pig. The objects that make up this piece were purchased in the USA, UK and Kazakhstan at thrift stores, chain stores, charity shops, an international fair, and museum shops. Two of the characters have asked me to use them again and I hope to oblige them before they get broken.

See more of my fine art photographs,or hire me to take your portarait.

Or contact me at Jon Martin Designs.com

So my latest hobby is creating political satire in Photoshop from images found online. It is a bit of an addiction doing my bit to get president Obama reelected in 2012. So whilst I should be creating beguiling new brands, copy writing and packaging designs, I am instead trying to make viral images to amuse and entertain the Democratic core or highlight problems with the republican nominee Mitt Romney. Facebook is my main medium for spreading my images, which is a shame because the images on my Facebook album are not found by Google. So I have to duplicate them on my flickr pages. My two most viral images are:

1)I decided to imagine the exchange between George W Bush and Mitt Romney.

When I put this caption on this borrowed photo I thought that this caption was below my standards of satire so I past it on to other pages and didn't put it on my own. As soon as I could see it getting thousands of likes and shares on different facebook pages I decide to lower my standards and accept it as my own. Fickle ain’t I.

2) I saw a text post by Adeline French about Rommunism and just had to make a jpeg, putting my own spin on Rommunism.

You do all the work, You pay all the taxes, We bank offshore, Rommunism.









My personal favorite and most complex Mittigation so far.

I woke up with the idea of rewriting America the beautiful then took it to the next level. Thanks to the original copyright holders of the two images used in this piece of satire. Romney wants to de regulate polluting industries, that will not make America beautiful.

America the beautiful?

O Smoggy polluted skies,
For fields of GMO,
For mining mountain majesties
Above the desert plain!
America! America!
Mitt took His cash from thee,
And crown thy rich, the greed is good
From sea to oil slicked sea!


The strongest and most angry post was a reaction to Mitt Romney plumbing new depths by pandering to the birther community in a “joke”. I just had to put my own spin on that.

“Wading into a debunked conspiracy theory, Mitt Romney raised the issue of President Barack Obama's citizenship Friday by joking that "no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate" At a rally in the suburbs of Detroit, Romney told a crowd of about 5,000 that he and his wife were happy to be back near their childhood home. "They know that this is the place that we were born and raised" the candidate said.” www.newsday.com/​elections/​mitt-romney-s-birth-certi...

To see more of my anti Mitt Romney satire and humourous jpegs try my Facebook page or my flickr pages.