Marina Burnel is a street photographer and visual artist based in Kingston, Jamaica, whose work explores the textures of everyday life through portraiture and environmental observation.
Her practice is rooted in documenting the social and cultural landscapes of Jamaica, capturing intimate moments that reflect identity, resilience, and the relationship between people and place.
Working across photography and mixed media, Burnel extends her images beyond the photographic surface by printing on salvaged zinc—materials commonly found in Jamaican landscape. This process transforms her photographs into tactile objects, embedding the work within the physical environment it originates from and creating a direct dialogue between image and material.
Her work operates at the intersection of documentary and fine art, shifting familiar scenes into collectible objects that carry both narrative and material history. Through this approach, Burnel constructs a body of work that is not only visual but also archival, preserving fragments of lived experience within reclaimed surfaces.
Burnel’s practice is driven by an ongoing investigation into memory, place, and transformation, positioning her work within a contemporary discourse on materiality and representational art in photography.
Marina Burnel: In Her Own Words
Explore the story behind Marina Burnel in her artist statement