Jacob Hessler
Sanctuary
About
Jacob Bond Hessler is a contemporary fine art photographer known for his expansive and meditative landscapes. His work has explored rising seas, industrialized farming, borders and boundaries, invasive species, extinction, and, more broadly, mankind's relationship with and impact on the natural world. His keen eye and use of scale connect viewers with the vastness of the human experience.
Hessler graduated from the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara and pursued his master’s degree in graphic design at Parsons, The New School for Design. He worked in New York as a commercial photographer and art director from 2006 to 2011.
In 2011, Hessler left New York and moved back to his childhood hometown in Mid Coast, Maine, to focus on his fine art landscape photography.
In 2017, Hessler released Boundaries, a limited-edition fine-press book of photographs and poetry in collaboration with 2013 presidential inaugural poet Richard Blanco (Two Ponds Press). The original photographs and poems from Boundaries have been exhibited at the Coral Gables Museum, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and the Ogunquit Museum of American Art.
He is a represented artist at Dowling Walsh Gallery in Rockland, Maine, Corey Daniels Gallery in Wells, Maine, and Soapbox Arts in Burlington, Vermont.
Exhibition • SANCTURARY
The modern world has sped our lives up for the sake of convenience, but the sacrifices have been great. Our ancestors spent huge portions of their waking lives outside, convening with and tending to nature. We have convinced ourselves we are separate from nature in order to excuse our unquenchable thirst for power, money, and overconsumption. This severing has had lasting effects on our physical and mental health. Despite our attempts at distancing ourselves from the natural world, we are, and always have been, a part of nature. Being starved of nature is making us sick.
In the pandemic, the forest was my sanctuary. It became the place I escaped to each day to observe and find calm. I would wander aimlessly in the quiet, lush, green for hours before returning to the harsh, confusing realities of the manmade world. I photographed the places that beckoned me - the enveloping cathedral branches became my place of renewal, healing, and worship.
In nature, everything works just as it should. The sun rises and sets each day. Every creature has access to its basic needs. Reconnecting with the natural order is our path toward rebuilding civilization in its image. May you rest, find solace, and find clarity in these holy places. May your shoulders drop. May it inspire you to reconnect and get lost in the woods more often. May you ponder a future where humankind and the natural world live in harmony with one another.
