Jacob Pesci is a practicing photographer, artist, and educator. Through the mediums of film photography and bookmaking, Jacob1 s studio practice focuses on themes surrounding the human condition and personal connections. His work aims to visualize memories and emotions in an effort to understand the nature of identity. Through this work, he attempts to find healing and awareness, of the body, the spirit, and the world in which we inhabit. Working with young people as an arts educator, he finds his skills and passion intersect in the classroom, inspiring and collaborating with future generations to guide loving, creative, and confident humans.
Around The BLOC
Around The BLOC published by Studio Racine is a photography project made by young boxers from the West Side of Chicago. The book opens with photographer Jacob Pesci documenting the team of young fighters at The BLOC, a nonprofit boxing gym located in West Humboldt Park. The following chapters of the book project are the culmination of a 10-month photography workshop made in collaboration with the boxers of The BLOC. Looking at the life-altering events of 2020, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic and Civil Unrest triggered by the murder of George Floyd, the students explored their current world, community, and the impact of their unique voice and perspective. Fighters anchored their image-making with individual writings based on their life experience as a young person coming of age in today’s everchanging social atmosphere. Founder and Director Jamyle Cannon writes in his opening essay “What you see in this photobook is revolutionary. Here, nuanced stories of joy, pain, and the mundane radiate from the lives they impact. Placing a camera in the hands of our fighters, instructing them on its use, and turning them loose in their community has empowered young people with a voice often reserved to those meant to exploit them.”
To view more of Jacob’s work please visit their website.