Bill Jacobson

Jacobson's lyrical defocused photography evokes inner states and fleeting memories

The images in New York-based photographer Bill Jacobson's (born 1955) 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 a 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 in Jacobson's studio in New York City.