I spent the summer of 2022 in a daze. The laps of cognitive understanding were due to a fall, quite a high one. The sensations of concussion came over me, I felt spooked, unable to put the simplest thoughts in order I was despondent, disconnected.

As the weeks went on, I began trying to continue my photo work, producing visual recordings of surroundings in South Devon, UK. I found myself roaming in areas I hadn't been to since childhood, my brain seemed to be finding magic in the small things, I often would find myself staring at the flow of the river, small flickers of light and not consciously doing it. Speaking with a friend, I would stare through them, only for a moment losing touch with the world. This environmental and personal wonder would slip into profound feelings of darkness and confusion, feelings were intensified by the constant beating sun and endless reports of fires, and fields turning a burnt brown. I felt a wonderous destructive weight envelop me.

At times scary, I began exploring how my brain and psyche were reacting to an environment and people I knew so well. How my mind visualised and experienced life during and after a mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Jacob Black (1995) is a UK lens-based artist and photographer working in documentary. Through a passion for the social sciences and lens-based documentation, Jacob completed a BA in Politics (2018) and an MA in Photojournalism (2021).

Working with both analogue and digital, Jacob explores ideas of land and environment, drawing on myth and the human connection to personal surroundings and habitats. Jacob's work is often informed by the ambiguities within the photographic medium, exploring how darkroom abstractions and digital manipulation can create narrative in different forms of documentary storytelling.

For more information, visit: jacob--black.com
Interview with Jacob Black here