When Jonathan Jackson initially applied for his role at UC Santa Cruz he was looking for a change from his old life. The new assistant professor of art was born and raised in Detroit, and has spent the past few years teaching at Boston College. “I was just really needing a physical life change,” says Jackson. “I felt like I could see down the barrel of my life and I could see the rest of it in the container of that region.”
Jackson was also in search of a tenure-track position that fit with his goals as an artist, and UC Santa Cruz was perfect. “They were seeking a scholar and artist to work with contemporary theory around race and representation, and that was my primary focus,” he says.
Growing up Jackson always had an interest in visual learning and says, “I succeeded the most in my early education when things had a visual property or condition around them.” In high school he spent his summers going out of state to attend summer programs focused on art, which gave him a wide exposure to art and artists. He went on to receive degrees in art and photography from Amherst College and Rhode Island School of Design.
Though Jackson is trained in a variety of artforms, he has a particular love for photography. “Something about making photographs aligned with my like sense of observation, my like proclivity just to walk around and see things,” he says. Jackson likes to remind his students that along with the technical skills that are required by photography, it also requires experiencing something through embodied practice.
Currently Jackson is working on a series of photos related to his recently deceased uncle. The timing of his uncle’s death paralleled Jackson’s interviews at UC Santa Cruz and his desire to start fresh. Despite his eagerness to start anew, Jackson’s uncle lived in Sacramento and his passing “already establishes a history for me in the state of California, through the life of my uncle,” he says.
Even when he’s not working, Jackson dedicates his time to photography. “My practice is fun to me, even though sometimes it can touch deeper emotional parts of yourself,” he says. “Making photographs is still the primary thing I want to do with my time.” Although he does curb his free-time spent on photography by baking or enjoying the sunshine.
Jackson expends a lot of his energy on making art, and has appeared in several galleries, but he also loves teaching and working with his students.” I’m really excited to be in a larger institution and bring the things that I possess as an educator and as an artist to different divisions and different departments.”