The Jersey Girl Project Wants You
You’ve heard the classic song, now let’s take an new look at today’s Jersey Girl.
Maybe you’d like to participate?
The Jersey Girl Photo Project wants you!. You’ll receive a free digital copy of your portrait as a thank you, and a discount on a print when they’re made available.
The Jersey Girl is every woman who was born, raised or adopted the New Jersey spirit as her own.
As a cultural expression the Jersey Girl Project wonders aloud, is there a defining quality that all Jersey women share? Is there something in all the different faces that can help us better understand who we are today? From the state that everyone loves to hate, this is a project examining the stubborn power of self-love.
Why focus on the Jersey Girl?
Want to participate? Details coming soon.
The vision
We’ll make a photograph together. We will take them using nice cameras, digital and on film. Those photographs will come together here, on social media, and in exhibits and a book. Eventually we will offer workshops and hold some storytelling events so girls and women can learn more about telling their stories through visual storytelling and through writing.
New Jersey is one of the original 13 colonies, and yet it has become a joke to the country it helped create. Underneath those jokes is some truth, but there’s also a lot of misunderstanding. New Jersey is a mirror.
As the population of New Jersey has grown, and maybe as it is growing up, there is a good case to be made that as goes New Jersey so goes the nation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why the Jersey Girl?
I was born in New Jersey and I’ve returned to it. Other places made me who I am, but so did this state. In 2022, the Annie E. Casey Foundation reported that 41% of New Jersey children were either foreign-born or lived with at least one immigrant parent. Like those kids today, New Jersey helped me become an American and I want to celebrate all its many faces.
When will the series become a book?
This is just getting started. If you participate and you tell a friend, and they tell a friend we can expect a book in 2027. We can start the events sooner, in 2026.
Who will own the photo?
I will own the photo rights for these portraits and you’ll be giving your permission for me to use the photo over and over again in the context of this project. Please participate with an open heart.
What will I receive?
You’ll receive a high-resolution copy of your portrait. You’ll receive a discounted price for a printed copy, which will also be signed. You aren’t obligated to purchase the print! You’ll also receive a special discount when the book is printed.
This project is about the allure of the American woman as we find her in New Jersey. This is about exploring the ones who never leave their hometown and the ones who leave to conquer the world. This is about the allure of attitude, and the power of love.
Some Jersey Girls will also be profiled in the Beach Badge ‘Zine.
Visit Eight Stone Press to read the interview with Rachel McCarthy, founder of NJ Surf Woman. You can also learn more about submitting your own Jersey Shore stories to Patrick for publication.
“I know a place where the dancing’s free. Now baby won’t you come with me”
Tom Waits/Bruce Springsteen
The Jersey Girl Project