JAMES HOSKING

I’m a Chicago-based visual artist working in photo, film, and collage. I’m a former MacDowell Fellow in visual arts, a former artist-in-residence at Latitude Chicago, and former Art Director of the Chicago Reader. My work has screened internationally and appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, The Atlantic, WIRED, The Baffler, and many other publications. 

My multimedia project Beautiful By Night examined identity, aging, and labor among veteran drag performers in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood. It included a documentary I directed, produced, and edited, which was named a Vimeo Staff pick. The project was featured in exhibitions at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and the Tenderloin Museum, as well as in a solo exhibition at the University of Michigan. 

My current collage series The Personals is made from LGBTQ+ archival material from 1966 to 1981, and is inspired by the text of found personals. It was developed during a HATCH residency at the Chicago Artists Coalition (CAC). I have received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) to support development of the series. Pieces have been featured in group exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, Cleve Carney Museum of Art, Filter Photo, Gerber/Hart Library & Archives, and other venues, as well as in a solo exhibition at the Evanston Public Library, co-presented with Hive Center for the Book Arts. 

I created a group of new works from The Personals for the Pardon Collection, publishers of Collé, which were included in the exhibition Commissioned at the Cannery Village Gallery. I will continue the series during an upcoming residency at Ragdale. I was recently chosen for the sixth iteration of Voices Embodied, an annual exhibition that considers disability in relation to identities. Using my archival research into this subject area, I will create an installation at The Design Museum of Chicago, on view from June 26, 2026 to January 27, 2027 and supported by YoungArts. A new subset of The Personals entitled The Margins uses only text, spot illustrations, and shapes from archival publications. Selected works will be featured in an artist’s book, The Margins: Volume 1, to be published with Chicago’s Matiz Press. The Margins will also be featured at Typeforce: 14, an annual showcase of art that uses typography.