bio

JW Toftness (b. 1984) is an artist whose work focuses on language, perception, human relationships with technology, and on slippages between perceived and mediated realities. Toftness was named as one of the Top 25 to Watch in Lenscratch’s 2026 Student Prize competition and he is part of the 2026 Critical Mass Top 200. His work is included among the finalists for the 21st Edition of the Arte Laguna Prize, with the accompanying exhibition held in Venice, Italy. He has been selected to attend Review Santa Fe in October 2026 and is a featured artist in New South, Volume 2: Double Vision (Atlanta Center for Photography, 2025). His work has been in group shows at: Colorado Photographic Arts Center, Denver, CO; Atlanta Photography Group, Atlanta, GA; Office Space Gallery, Detroit, MI (as part of the NOVA24 Photo + Film Festival); XoXo Gallery, Baltimore, MD; Ingram Library Gallery, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA; Candela Photographic Arts, Richmond, VA; Rhode Island Center for Photographic Arts, Providence, RI; Oregon Contemporary, Portland, OR; and ATHICA, Athens, GA. His work has also appeared in multiple online exhibitions hosted by: Der Grief, Through the Lens Collective (South Africa), Lenscratch, and Blue Sky Gallery (Portland, OR). Cleo the Project Space put on Toftness’s solo exhibition, Coda, in December 2025; his MFA Thesis exhibition, Eidolon, was presented at the Savannah College for Art and Design’s Alexander Hall in April 2026. And, his exhibition When Seeds Are Sent for Flowers opened at Candela Photographic Arts in September 2026. Toftness’s work is held in multiple private collections.