Shawn Jackson

Shawn Theodore Jackson in a black turtleneck and black blazer standing in front of a black backdrop
Faculty

Photography (BFA)

Shawn Theodore Jackson has been teaching in UArts’ Photography program since 2019.

Biography

Shawn Theodore Jackson was born in 1970 and is a Philadelphia-based contemporary artist, writer and photographer.

Experience

Jackson’s works have been exhibited and collected widely.

  • The African American Museum in Philadelphia, The Barnes Foundation, Drexel University, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Rush Arts, University of the Arts, all in Philadelphia

  • Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas

  • Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania

  • Art on Paper Fair; the libraries of the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum; and Steven Kasher Gallery, New York, New York

  • ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, California

  • Association of International Photography Art Dealers, Washington, D.C.

  • The Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Boston

  • Catherine Edelman Gallery, Chicago

  • Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, California

  • Cornell Fine Arts Museum Collection, Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida

  • Depauw University, Greencastle, Indiana

  • the Getty Institute library and Photo LA Fair, Los Angeles 

  • Hudson Valley Community College, Troy, New York

  • InVision Festival, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

  • Mennello Museum of American Art, and Snap! Orlando, Orlando, Florida

  • Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Art (MoCADA), Photoville and Richard Beavers Gallery, in Brooklyn

  • PRIZM Art Fair, Miami

  • Quantum Art

  • SCOPE Art Show

  • Sohn Fine Art, Lenox, Massachusetts

  • Syracuse University, New York

  • Texas State University, San Marcos

  • Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach

  • ZuCot Gallery, Atlanta

  • His photographic works have been featured in TV and film, including The Obituary of Tunde Johnson (2019) and Boomerang (BET Network, 2019). 

  • Jackson’s photography has been used for the cover art for Black in Place: The Spatial Aesthetics of Race in a Post-Chocolate City by Brandi Summers and Veil and Vow: Marriage Matters in Contemporary African American Culture, by Aneeka Ayana Henderson. Jackson’s first book, Birmingham (2019, +KGP), was published with the publisher’s compilation LOST II (2019, +KGP).

  • Other notable projects include several campaigns for Apple, Spotify, Showtime, RocNation, PAPER Magazine, New York Magazine, The Cut, New Republic, Smithsonian Magazine, VQR, The Atlantic, The New York Times and PDN.

  • Jackson earned his BA in Journalism, Public Relations and Advertising, Philadelphia, and his Photography MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia.

Website

Visit Shawn Theodore Jackson’s website. 

Follow Jackson on Instagram. 

Read about Jackson on Wikipedia. 

Awards & Accolades

Jackson has been recognized numerous times for his work. 

  • He was awarded the prestigious PDN’s 30 New & Emerging Photographers to Watch (2019), 

  • the Getty Images / ARRAY Where We Stand grant and a grant from the Knight Foundation for ‘A Dream Deferred’. 

  • He is a two-time nominee of The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship, and a nominee of the Magnum Foundation Fund.

  • Jackson is a current member of the board of Rush Arts Philanthropic, and a former member of the board of TILT Institute (formerly Philadelphia Photo Arts Center).

A closeup of two pairs of Black hands holding an old book and dried tree branches with an aqua background
A closeup of a Black man wearing a beaded multicolored headdress over their face
Two Black women looking away from the camera in opposite directions and sitting among textiles and quilts in blue and black and pink and sea green and white