Stephen Wilkes

Stephen Wilkes (born October 28, 1957) is an American photographer, photojournalist, director and fine artist. In 2009 he began work on the project, Day to Night. Featuring epic cityscapes and landscapes portrayed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours, the work was designed to capture fleeting moments of humanity over the course of a full day. Day to Night was featured on CBS Sunday Morning as well as several other prominent media outlets and earned Wilkes a grant from the National Geographic Society, to extend the project to include America’s National Parks in celebration of their centennial anniversary and Bird Migration for the 2018 Year of the Bird. This was followed by an additional grant from the National Geographic Society allowing Wilkes to extend the series yet again with Day to Night of Canadian Iconic Species and Habitats at Risk in collaboration with The Royal Canadian Geographic Society. Day to Night: In the Field with Stephen Wilkes, a solo exhibition was exhibited at The National Geographic Museum in 2018. Day to Night was published by TASCHEN as a monograph in 2019.
Life and work
Wilkes was born in 1957 in New York. He received his BS in photography from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a minor in business management from the Whitman School of Management in 1980. Since opening his New York studio in 1983, Stephen Wilkes has built a sizable body of work, gaining him notoriety as a photographer and wide recognition for his fine art, editorial and commercial work.
Wilkes’ early career interpretations of Mainland China, California’s Highway One, and impressionistic Burned Objects set the tone for a series of career-defining projects.
In 1998, a one-day assignment to the south side of Ellis Island led to a 5-year photographic study of the island’s long abandoned medical wards where immigrants were detained before they could enter America. His photographs and video helped secure donations upwards of $6 million for the restoration of the south side of Ellis Island. A monograph based on the work, Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom, was published in 2006 and was named one of TIME magazine’s 5 Best Photography Books of the Year. The work was also featured on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning.
In 2000, Epson America commissioned Wilkes to create a millennial portrait of the United States. America In Detail— a 52-day odyssey was exhibited in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
Wilkes’ work documenting the ravages of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy were intended to heighten awareness and draw attention to the realities of global climate change. He was commissioned by the Annenberg Space for Photography to revisit New Orleans in 2013 after documenting Hurricane Katrina for the World Monuments Fund. His photographs on Hurricane Sandy were exhibited in 2014 at the Annenberg Center for Photography.
Wilkes' directorial debut, the documentary film, Jay Myself, world premiered at DOCNYC in November 2018. The film is an in-depth look into the world of photographer Jay Maisel and his move out of his 35,000 sq. foot building at 190 Bowery. Oscilloscope Laboratories acquired the North American rights and the film opened at Film Forum in NYC in July 2019. Wilkes was a speaker at the TED2016: Dream Conference on his Day to Night series and he participated in the TED Countdown Summit in October 2020.
In 2017 Wilkes was commissioned by the US Embassy, Ottawa to create a Day to Night photograph of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation. In 2021 Wilkes, now a National Geographic Explorer, was once again commissioned by the National Geographic Society to create a Day to Night of the Biden/Harris Presidential Inauguration. The photograph was featured in National Geographic and exhibited at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in NYC.
In addition to his work in the worlds of fine art and photography, Wilkes has also shot numerous advertising campaigns for companies such as: Netflix, Zillow, OppenheimerFunds, Gallup, SAP, IBM, Capital One, The New Yorker, Johnson & Johnson, DHL, American Express, Nike, Sony, Verizon, IBM, AT&T, Rolex and Honda.
Awards
American Photography, Selected Winner, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
PDN Award of Excellence, Advertising, 2018
Prix Pictet, Consumption, Honorable Mention, 2015
PDN Award of Excellence, Photojournalism, Vanity Fair 2014
PDN Award of Excellence, Photojournalism, Sandy 2013
PDN Award of Excellence, Fine Art, Day to Night Shanghai 2013
Time Magazine Top 10 Photographers of 2012
Communication Arts Photography Award of Excellence 2012, 2013
Sony World Photography Professional Award, 2012
Adobe Breakthrough Photography Award, 2012
Photo District News Award of Excellence, 2011
PX3 Prix de la Photographie Paris Fine Art Series 2nd Place & 3rd Place, Photojournalism 2010 World in Focus PDN, Portraits/Sense of Place 1st, Place, 2008
Prix De La Photographie Paris, Honorable Mention; Human Condition, 2007
Lucie Awards 1st. Place, Professional Photographer, Editorial, The Rise of Big Water, 2007
Lucie Awards 1st. Place, Fine Art, Ellis Island: Ghost of Freedom Lucie Awards, 2007 American Photography, Award of Excellence, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014
Photo District News Award of Excellence: 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Graphis, 1992
The Art Directors Club Distinctive Merit, 1992
Communication Arts Award of Excellence 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
Epson Creativity Award, 2004
Lucie Award Fine Art Photographer of the Year, 2004
Adweek Magazine Photographer of the Year, 1992
Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography, 2000
Solo exhibitions museums
Day to Night, The Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, Russia, January 2023
Day to Night, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, September, 2019
Bird Migration, National Museum of Wildlife Art of The United States, May, 2019
Day to Night: In the Field with Stephen Wilkes, National Geographic Museum, Washington, DC 2018
Connecticut Responds & Reflects: 9/11, Fairfield Museum, Fairfield, CT, September 2011
Ellis Island, Ghosts of Freedom, James A. Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, PA, June 2010
Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, January 2008
In Katrina’s Wake, World Monuments Fund Gallery, New York, NY, 2006
Solo Gallery Exhibitions
Stephen Wilkes, A Witness to Change, Jackson Fine Arts, Atlanta, May, 2020
Stephen Wilkes: Day to Night, Monroe Gallery , Santa Fe, NM, October , 2019
Stephen Wilkes: Day to Night, Fahey Klein Gallery, Los Angeles ,October 2019
Stephen Wilkes: A Witness to Change, Bryce Wolkowitz, September, 2019
Day to Night: Holden Luntz Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, January, 2019
Day to Night: ProjectB Gallery, Milan , Italy , November, 2018
Day to Night, Galerie GADCOLLECTION, Paris, France, October 2017
Day to Night, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York, NY, September 2017
Ellis Island Ghosts of Freedom, Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, Ca. March 2017
Day to Night, Robert Klein Gallery, Boston, MA. August 2016
Day to Night, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York, NY, November 2015
Remnants, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, 2015
Day to Night, Peter Fetterman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, September 2014
Bethlehem Steel, ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, PA 2013
Day to Night, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, April 2012
Connecticut Responds & Reflects: 9/11, Fairfield Museum, Fairfield, CT, September 2011
Day to Night, Clampart Gallery, New York, NY, September 2011
Steuben Glass Gallery, Ellis Island, New York, NY, November 2009
Monroe Gallery of Photography, China, Santa Fe, NM, October 2008
Fairfield Museum, Images, Fairfield, CT, April 2009
The Construction of the Olympic Stadium and other Chinese Public Works, ClampArt, New York, NY, June 2008
China, David Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, January 2008
Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island, Chicago Cultural Arts, Chicago, IL, July 2008
Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island, Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA, January 2008
Stephen Wilkes, China, ClampArt, New York, NY, April 2007
Stephen Wilkes, Ellis Island, ClampArt, New York, NY, April 2007
Ellis Island Revisited, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, 2006
Ellis Island Revisited, David Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 2006
Bethlehem Steel, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, 2005
Bethlehem Steel, Apex Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2004
Ellis Island, Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, 2004
Ellis Island, Apex Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2003
The Female Form on the Lava Beds of Hawaii, Soho Triad Fine Arts, New York, NY, 2002 Ellis Island, Soho Triad Fine Arts, New York, NY, 2001
America in Detail, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, 2000
Group Museum Exhibitions
Who Shot Sports: A photographic History, 1843–Present, Brooklyn Museum, NY, 2017
Arts in Embassies: Ottawa, Canada, 2015
Annenberg Space for Photography, Sink or Swim, Designing for a Sea of Change, December, 2014
Museum of the City of New York, Rising Waters, Photographs of Hurricane Sandy, 2013–2014
George Eastman House: The Art of Persuasion, Rochester, NY, 1992
Collections
The Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, St. Petersburg, Russia George Eastman House International Museum of Film and Photography Dow Jones Collection
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Library of Congress
Carl and Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation
Griffin Museum of Photography
Jewish Museum New York
Barclays Bank Corporate Collection
James A. Michener Art Museum
The Historic New Orleans Collection
Museum of the City of New York
Snite Museum of Art
9/11 Memorial & Museum
New Mexico Arts Division, Department of Cultural Affairs
References
External links
Stephen Wilkes Website
Ellis Island Ghosts
Stephen Wilkes Photography
Article on an exhibition of Wilkes work at the Michener Art Museum
Article on Day to Night work on NY Daily News
GADCOLLECTION Gallery
Monroe Gallery
Bernstein & Andriulli
Jay Myself Film
TASCHEN Day to Night Monograph
American photographers
Living people
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni
Fine art photographers
1957 births