Patrick Planter

Patrick Planter

Photographer

With almost ten years under his belt, international fine art photographer and photojournalist, Patrick Planter, has achieved what most dream of: turning a lifelong passion into a lucrative professional career.

Jamaican by birth, Planter got his start at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica where he trained with renowned local photographer, Donnette Zacca. In 2016, Planter made his professional foray into photojournalism when he began his career at Jamaican newspaper publication, The Jamaica Gleaner. Planter worked as a freelance photographer with assignments in sports, news, human interest and entertainment before his eventual migration to Switzerland in 2017.

As a fine art photographer, Planter’s work has garnered significant attention in both Jamaica and in Europe. His work has been exhibited in over 20 galleries and exhibitions in Europe and the Caribbean, and he has received over ten awards in his home country for his art. Attention for Planter’s work has often been organized around his simplistic yet visually stimulating imagery that depends heavily on originality in angles and composition. This element of uniqueness in composition is what distinguishes a Patrick Planter photograph from his other contemporaries. His professional portfolio’s main strength is largely portraiture but also includes works in abstract, landscape and documentary photography.

Back in Jamaica, Planter collaborated on projects with entities including The Edna Manley Foundation to document and archive pieces by world renowned Jamaican visual artist, Edna Manley for the 2015 memorial exhibition and publication, Into The Sun. He has also worked with another world-renowned visual artist, David Boxer, on his still untitled publication.

Planter’s commercial resume includes photographer for Caribbean Model Search with model management company Pulse and photographing notable performing artistes to include Bobi Wine from Uganda, Tanto Metro & Devonte, Seanizzle, and Torch, for use on promotional material and album covers. His photographs have been published in local and international publications including Sunday Flair, The Star and Pulse Magazine. Three of his photographs featured on the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s (JCDC) 2016 Calendar and one was featured on Scotiabank’s Calendar for 2017, both distributed nationally.

Since 2020, Planter has been working on a series called Shades, which explores the intersection of color, shape, and emotion through a series of abstract compositions. Each piece in the series is a visual journey that encourages the viewer to explore the depths of their own emotions and to find their own path to meditation. This series is the product of experimentation during the pause created by the COVID-19 pandemic, using studio light colour gels, geometric shapes and black and white portraiture. The series has led to collaborations with artistes like Bennio E. Walder, Thabiso Phepeng and Marvin Kangsen. It has also been a promotional and commercial success for Planter with three pieces sold so far and since being mounted at the Bilder Soirées Schachtel 2023 Exhibition has been mounted four other times in Europe.

Planter lists his future aspirations as mounting his own solo gallery show, doing travel photography and publishing his own book of photographs about the nuances of Jamaican life.

Awards & Accolades:
2018 Bronze Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2018 Silver Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2017 Gold Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2017 Silver Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2017 Bronze Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2016 Silver Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2016 Silver Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2016 Merit Award recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2015 Silver Medal recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition
2013 Bronze Award recipient, JCDC Visual Arts Competition and Exhibition

Gallery & Exhibitions:
2024 - Ngala African Contemporary Art Space
2024 - Gallerie 111, Seeing and being Seen
2024 - Botaki Factory Collective, Friends and Family
2024 - Sihlquai, Exhibition and Auction
2023 - Botaki Factory Collective, Confluence
2023 - Sihlquai, Exhibition and Auktion
2023 - Vfg Bilder Soirées Schachtel, Photobastei
2021 - WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation Jamaica 60th Exhibition
2021 - Vernice, Jamaikas Versteckte Schätze
2021 – Afrinovart Group Exhibition
2021 - Farben Blind (Group Exhibition Photobasetie)
2020 - Black Art Matters Photo Schweiz
2019 - Solo Exhibition, Ethnicity Gallery
2018 - Experience Jamaique Online Gallery
2018 - JCDC Visual Art Competition Exhibition
2017 - JCDC Visual Art Competition Exhibition
2016 - JCDC Visual Art Competition Exhibition
2015 - KOTE (Kingston on the Edge)
2015 - JCDC Visual Art Competition Exhibition
2013 - JCDC Visual Art Competition Exhibition

Commercial Experience:
Album Cover, Tanto Metro and Devonte
Album Cover, Torch
Album Cover, Seanizzle
Photo-documenting art pieces by visual artist Edna Manley at Memorial Exhibition, Into The Sun