“I always wanted to be a writer, but I don’t always have the right words to describe how I feel. Photography is my way to tell my story. In my photographs, I try to capture the dreamlike state of sleepwalking. I create atmospheric images that I invite viewers to walk into and feel a haunting sense of mystery.”

Justin Emanuel Ewers was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana. A hairdresser by trade, he rediscovered his teenage love of photography by shooting hair shows. While living in Atlanta, he developed a love for street photography and black-and-white images. After discovering the photographer, Peter Lindbergh, who shot exclusively on black-and-white film, he began using film again. Moving back to Indiana in 2020, he was able to focus on printing and view the midwest landscape in a new light. He now uses both digital and analog processes to produce haunting black-and-white prints. He’s inspired by philosophers, musicians, and painters and gets ideas from old photo books, museums, or traveling—especially mountains, cities, and the sea.

Justin has been featured in shows in the Evansville area as well as internationally. His work has been shown in galleries in the midwest and abroad and in art magazines and books, including several issues of The Hand Magazine and a collective photography book by ephemere in Tokyo, Japan. In 2024 he self-published his first printed collection of work in a zine called Behind the Rain.

Justin lives and works in Evansville, Indiana.