Mitch Kern lives and works in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Born in New York in 1965, he moved to Los Angeles with his family in 1977. He’s lived and worked in New York, California, New Mexico, Texas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Louisiana, and Alberta—an experience that’s reflected in his work. 

He worked as a freelance photojournalist covering hard news for newspapers and magazines in Texas, Maryland, and Washington DC, and after a career in mainstream media, took his first full-time teaching position at the University of Central Missouri. It was here he began exploring themes of identity and belonging in the Kansas City art scene.  His camera became a vehicle for social engagement, a process he discovered—more important than the picture itself. He's also taught at Penn State University and Louisiana Tech University, and since 2006, at Alberta University of the Arts.

He has an undergraduate degree in visual art from the University of Maryland and an MFA in Photography from Penn State University, but his real degree is in fitting in, a credential he earned over a lifetime as a drifter with survival instincts. He’s spent his career exploring variations on this theme.