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Thought Series #2571
Thought Series #2571

Thought Series #2571

Artist Bill Jacobson American, born 1955
Date1998
MediumGelatin-silver print
Dimensions24 x 20 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsPhotography
Credit LineGift of Allen G. Thomas Jr.
Object number2005.25.6
On View
Not on view
Label TextBill Jacobson’s blurry, fragmented portraits capture the transitory nature of dreams and memories. These shadowed and cropped images do not give us all the information we need to know this person, just a partial glimpse, like a fleeting memory. Dematerialized, disembodied, caught in an atmospheric mist or fog, these haunting portraits project a palpable sense of loss, reminding us of forgotten people and moments.

As the artist has described this series of photographs, “…my work has been an ongoing meditation around desire, loss, and the role of photography as a vehicle for remembrance. My pictures often function as metaphors for the way the mind works: simultaneously collecting images while letting others go, fading in the way that memories fade, and alluding to the fact that, historically, photographs have faded as well. – Most photographs are meant as documents of moments we wish to hold onto forever. My work suggests that these moments, like life itself, are constantly fading into the past.”
[L. Dougherty, 2006]
ProvenanceCreated New York, 1998; collection of the artist; [Julie Saul Gallery, New York]; Allen G. Thomas Jr., Wilson, NC; given to NCMA, 2005.

Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, “Outsiders: Facing the Camera,” July 21, 2013–January 26, 2014. Object Rights Statement

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