when is a place #448, 2020Analog silver gelatin print
mounted to museum board
and framed
print, 16 × 20 in.;
board, 23 3/4 × 27 3/4 in.
Edition of 7 plus 2 artist’s proofs (#2/7)
In Bill Jacobson’s when is a place series, works such as #448 (2020) and #402 frame thresholds where geometry meets atmosphere—edges of buildings, streets, and fields that hold a pause in time. Crisp focus replaces the blur of his earlier work, yet the images retain a contemplative stillness. Sequential numbering anchors each photograph within the continuum of the series while avoiding prescriptive titles, allowing meaning to remain open. The series title itself prompts reflection on place as not only a fixed location, but also a moment, experience, or state of mind.