R. J. Kern (b. 1978) is an American artist whose work explores ideas of home, ancestry, and the sense of place. He uses the photographic medium in multiple formats, utilizing both natural and artificial light to document the interaction of people, animals, and cultural landscapes.

His work has been exhibited in a number of notable exhibitions, including the Museum of Modern Art (Tbilisi, Georgia), the National Portrait Gallery (London, UK), the Yixian International Photography Festival (Anhui, China), and solo exhibitions at the Griffin Museum of Photography (Boston, MA) and the Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND). Kern’s work and books have been exhibited at art fairs such as Paris Photo and Classic Photographs LA, as well as at galleries nationwide, most recently Klompching Gallery in Brooklyn, Burnet Fine Art & Advisory in Minneapolis, and Afterimage Gallery in Dallas.

Accolades include PDN’s 30 2018, Critical Mass 2018 Top 50, CENTER 2017 Choice Award Winner (Curator’s Choice, First Place), the 2017 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize (Finalist), and three Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2016, 2018, 2020). He was the Commemorative Artist for the 2019 Minnesota State Fair.

Kern's work has been presented in a number of publications, including a feature in National Geographic (November 2017). Kern published his first monograph with Kehrer Verlag titled, The Sheep and the Goats, awarded one of "The Most Beautiful German Books 2018” by Stiftung Buchkunst and awarded Bronze by the prestigious Deutscher Fotobuchpreis 2018-19. His second monograph, The Unchosen Ones: Portraits of an American Pastoral, will be published by MW Editions in 2021, supported by a multi-year traveling exhibition by ExhibitsUSA launching in 2022.

Selected collections holding his work include: Center for Creative Photography (Tuscon, AZ), Center for Photography at Woodstock (Woodstock, NY), Fidelity Corporate Art Collection (Boston, MA), Griffin Museum of Photography (Winchester, MA), Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art (Tarpon Springs, FL), General Mills Corporate Collection (Minneapolis, MN), Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN), Plains Art Museum (Fargo, ND), Masur Museum of Art ( Monroe, LA), Minnesota Historical Society (St. Paul, MN), Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, TX), and Museum of Fine Arts (St. Petersburg, FL).

He is represented by Burnet Fine Art & Advisory in Minnesota and Olson Larsen Galleries in Iowa.