Bill Jacobson

The images in Bill Jacobson’s when is a place suggest risks and uncertainties. They question both the nature of perception and our existential place in the world, themes explored throughout his five decades of making photographs. Jacobson’s use of a defocused lens, bleached out skies, and an otherwise curious tonal range challenge boundaries of traditional photographic practice. Diffuse horizon lines dramatically bisect distant landscapes, the subtle curves of vague human bodies, and unknown spaces suggestive of architecture play prominent intertwining roles. Jacobson’s original large-scale prints are analog silver gelatin, printed by him in a traditional black and white darkroom. Created between 2018 and 2020, the images were made in Virginia, the south of France, upstate New York, and a studio in New York City.