Photography tutor

About Maria

Maria J Hackett is a Brooklyn based artist. While heavily focused on her photography and dance throughout NYC, she recently completed her studies in photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Introduced to photography in her junior year at The High School of Fashion Industries, Maria continued on to a series of classes through The International Center of Photography’s Community Programs. Eventually, interning, and working as a teaching assistant for a number of classes through ICP followed after. Maria has also interned for Marco Grob, assisting on a number of shoots under Grob’s key assistant and studio manager, Grant Flanagan. As she has also assisted a few classes under photography instructor Carol Dragon at the International Center of Photography, she is now teaching her Minimalist Lighting class at ICP for the Winter term.

Along with a deep passion for dance, she connects much of her work with dancers, as she maintains the goal of opening the eyes of viewers through many projects based on culture and community. One on going series includes Art Of Expression which is a series giving dancers a voice. It’s a way to unite the many forms of dance into a single project, while educating viewers on the many styles of dance, ways of communication, self expression and the many cultures that revolve around dance, while breaking stereotypes that exists about the unfamiliar.

Tao of Jamiva is another series aiming to break stereotypes of those who are not given the privilege to. Mustafa, a coach of 35 years, trains young men within his Jamiva Boxing Camp at, then, Judas Brothers boxing gym. Being familiar with the streets, he disciplines those willing, keeping many out of the streets from drugs, violence and death, in hopes of passing along his knowledge. This series depicts young black men working hard to get where they want to be.

Opening the minds of viewers and exploring the unfamiliar is a goal Maria seeks out to achieve as she continues to explore herself and others through both dance and photography. Through her classes, her goal is to not only have students gain knowledge in photography but also to see the world differently while learning to express in a photographic language.