THOMAS
JACKSON
2024 - 2025
2022 - 2023
2020 - 2021
2017 - 2019
Emergent Behavior
Live Installations
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I repurpose manufactured materials to create and photograph site-responsive installations in unbuilt landscapes. Rooted in the tension between nature and artificiality, the installations pose questions about how we interact with the environment, and how we might find equilibrium with it.
In recent years I’ve found fabric to be the perfect medium through which to explore these themes. On the one hand it is a processed material. Woven, dyed and stitched, it carries all the baggage of our consumption-based culture. Yet as human-made materials go, it fits right in with nature. It is flexible, soft and deeply responsive to wind, light and other natural forces. Exposed to the elements as an installation in a natural setting, it performs a visual negotiation not only between the artificial and the natural, but between intention and chance, stillness and movement, disruption and collaboration.
Before my current focus on textiles, I made installations from a variety of manufactured cultural items including plastic cups and plates, take-out containers, hula hoops, cheese balls, straws and post-it notes. Mimicking natural phenomena like bird murmurations, insect swarms, super blooms and wildfires, these installations are studies in contradiction. They adapt to their surroundings, appearing almost to belong, yet their mere presence as mass-produced, single use objects is an affront to the landscapes they inhabit. In this state of simultaneous harmony and conflict, the installations mirror our own uneasy, imbalanced relationship with the environment.
All of my photographs strain credulity by design. At first blush they can appear to be digital fabrications, but in truth, they are entirely in-camera, printed with minimal post-production. At a moment when AI-generated imagery is rapidly reshaping visual culture—and making the line between the real and the fabricated ever blurrier—these works offer a quiet counterpoint. They are both meditations on illusion and assertions of the tangible. My installations ask viewers to question their eyes, but also to appreciate the labor and unpredictability behind each image. They’re a reminder that reality can still surprise us.
CV
Background
b. 1971 Philadelphia, PA
1993 Bachelor of Arts, History, The College of Wooster
Solo Exhibitions
2025 Whole Cloth, Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, MA
2023 - 24 Chaotic Equilibrium, Brooks Museum, Memphis, TN
2023 Collaborative Nature (public art installation), Tiburon, CA
2019 New Work, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Tree no. 1, Heron Arts, San Francisco, CA
2018 Emergent Behavior, SFO Museum, San Francisco, CA
2017 Emergent Behavior, Jackson Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
2017 Emergent Behavior, Cynthia-Reeves, North Adams, MA
2016 Emergent Behavior, Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2015 Emergent Behavior, Dina Mitrani Gallery, Miami, FL
2015 Emergent Behavior, Photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Group Exhibitions
2025 Rapt in Wonder, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX
2025 Turkish Textile Biennial, Alanya, Turkey
2022 Intersect Aspen, Jackson Fine Art, Aspen, CO
2019 The Photography Show (AIPAD), Jackson Fine Art, New York, NY
2019 Art on Paper, Ellen Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2018 Art on Paper, Ellen Miller Gallery, New York, NY
2017 Art Miami, Jackson Fine Art, Miami, FL
2017 Phenomenon, The Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA
2017 The Photography Show (AIPAD), Jackson Fine Art, New York, NY
2017 Unnatural Phenomena (with Alejandra Laviada), Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
2016 Art Miami, Cynthia-Reeves, Miami, FL
2015 The Disrupted Landscape, Miller Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
2015 Scope Basel, Cynthia-Reeves, Basel, Switzerland
2014 Art Miami, Cynthia-Reeves, Miami, FL
2014 The Curve, Center for Contemporary Arts, Sante Fe, NM
2014 The Fence, United Photo Industries, Brooklyn, NY,
Boston, MA and Atlanta, GA
2014 Photography Now, juried by Julie Grahame, The Center for
Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY
2014 ONWARD Compé ‘14, juried by Andrew Moore, Project Basho,
Philadelphia, PA
2014 Wondrous Indeed, juried by Philip Toledano, The Center for Fine Art
Photography, Fort Collins, CO
2014 The National, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN
2013 Well Hung, The Print Center Annual Auction, Philadelphia, PA
2013 PDN The Curator group show, Industria Superstudios, New York, NY
2013 Emerging Artist Auction, Daniel Cooney Gallery, New York, NY
2013 Critical Mass group show, curated by W.M. Hunt, Jennifer Schwartz
Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia and Southeast Museum of Photography,
Daytona Beach, Florida
2013 Intro, La Fototeca, Guatemala City, Guatemala
2013 Fountain Art Fair, with Arcilesi-Homberg Fine Art, New York, NY
2012 The Gallery at Eponymy, curated by Amani Olu, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Take Me There (MOPLA), Venice Arts Gallery, Venice, CA
2012 Angkor Photo Festival, Siem Reap, Cambodia
2011 The Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
2011 The (un)Framed Photograph, The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY
Collections
2023 Instagram, San Francisco, CA
2023 Unites States Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka
2020 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
2019 Marin Health, Larkspur, CA
2018 JP Morgan Chase, New York, NY
2017 Delta Airlines
2016 Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
2015 Berkshire Partners, Boston, MA
2014 Rotch Library at MIT, Cambridge, MA
2014 The Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, MA
2013 United Talent Agency, Los Angeles, CA
Collaborations
2025 Maison Margiela
2022 Polaroid
2022 Merci Paris
2021 Adobe
2018 Isle of Man
Lectures/Workshops
2025 Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill, (workshop), Truro, MA
2024 Savannah College of Art and Design (visiting artist fellowship)
2023 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art (lecture), Memphis, TN
2019 Farther Afield, Landscape Photography Reimagined (workshop for San Francisco
Photo Alliance)
2018 The HOPES Conference, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR
2015 Photo-eye Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2014 Photo Alliance (with Robert Cumming), San Francisco Art Institute,
San Francisco, CA
Awards & Residencies
2014 CENTER Curator's Choice Award, Second Place
2014 ONWARD Compé ‘14, juror's award winner
2014 Wondrous Indeed, Center for Fine Art Photography, juror's selection
2014 The National, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Juror's Merit Award
2013 Art Takes Paris, See.me, winner of “Photography” category
2013 PDN The Curator, winner of “Installation/still-life” category
2013 Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Brush Creek, Wyoming
2012 Critical Mass Top 50
Publications
2022 Juztapoz
2021 Harper's
2017 Harper's
2016 The New Yorker
2015 Harper's
2013 Wired
2013 Photo District News
2013 Tricycle Magazine
2013 American Photo Magazine
2012 The Artist Catalogue
2012 M/I/S/C magazine
2011 The Huffington Post