Reimagined Reconstructed 2026

I begin with polaroids taken of ordinary scenes in my neighborhood. When I add animals, insects, and human figures to the mix, this ordinary scene ignites into a richly imagined, dramatic tableau. A moment frozen in time. Some are whimsical, others disquieting. Narrative is suggested, open ended, inviting.

By enlarging the originals to 37x31 (and larger), the pocket size polaroid is replaced by something large and unruly. This radical scale deviation changes everything. Printing on a polyester weave, vinyl substrate, the works can be mounted just about anywhere, unframed, like hanging textiles.

They can move and bend. They are not only images, but objects occupying space.

James Byrne

Cause and Effect, 37x31

Backyard Pool, 37x31

Desktop, 37x31

Cause and Effect, 37x31

1/10

This exhibition summary highlights recent group and individual exhibitions of my collage photography.

Video works and film are noted in bold.

2026

Open Call: A Celebration of Contemporary Photography, PhotoPlace Gallery, Middlebury, VT

Untitled 20, Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

Light Cut On Paper: Photography and Collage, New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Making Strange, Praxis Photo Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

2025

A Memory to Enshrine, Gamut Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

2024

Airport 2024, Atlanta Photo Group, Atlanta International Airport Gallery, GA

Flying Objects, Edgewater Gallery, Fort Brag, CA

When Photography Meets Collage, New Orleans Photo Alliance Gallery, New Orleans, LA

360 Degrees - Looking at Last Year, D’art Gallery, Denver, CO

2023

James Byrne: Unforeseen Anomalies, individual exhibition, Pump House Regional Arts Center, La Crosse, WI

Light, SE Center for Photography, Greenville, SC

2022

PhotoMidwest 12th Biennial, Promega Gallery, Madison, WI

North of the 45th, DeVos Art Museum, Lafayette, MI

Inside Out/Upside Down, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Cape Cod, MA

Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival; Official Selection, short film

Pressing Innovations, Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI

Shadow Perspective, Praxis Photo Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

2021

James Byrne: New Works, individual exhibition, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins

Global Groove, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; short video

Alternative Facts: Photography by Any Means, PACE Center Gallery, Denver, CO;

Arts North International, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins, MN

Spot On #2, D'art Gallery, Denver, CO

2020

The Body Electric, Museum of Art and Design, Miami, FL; video installation

Videotapes: Early Video Art, Zacheta-National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland, short video

Art Inspired by Music, Vine Arts Center, Minneapolis, MN

Emerge, D'art Gallery, Denver, CO

Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Official Selection, short film

2019

The Body Electric, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, video installation

The Body Electric, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA, video installation

Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, Official Selection, short film

Ladder Against Wall with Bucket

Think He'll Ever Come Back?

Angle of Repose

Sky with Ladder

Cow Calamity

Oh My