Biography

Tom Jacobi was born in 1956 in Germany. After studying law he started his photographical career in 1976 in the genre of portrait photography, in which his main focus laid on taking portraits of leading German politicians. In the following year he built his starting point for his long-lasting career at the German magazine ”Stern”. for which Tom Jacobi was employed from his first time at the magazine until 1986 as photographer. In the following 14 years Tom Jacobi worked as a freelance photographer for magazines like ”New York Times Magazine”, and ”The New Yorker”, before he returned to the ”Stern” as art director. His photographical exhibition ”Wo Gott wohnt”, which was completed in the same year, was internationally presented, e.g. in the ”Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe” in Hamburg. The photobook advanced rapidly to a bestseller. In the year 2005 Tom Jacobi established the magazine ”View”, for which he worked as editor in chief till 2008. In 2014 he started a four-years-project, photographing all over the world: The trilogy »Awakening«. It consists of three series: ”Grey Matter(s)” (2014–2015), ”Into the Light” (2015–2017) and ”The Light Within” (2018). At first shady and mysterious, then cool and clear, finally contemplative and inviting – each of the three series emits an individual atmosphere. In 2016 he was awarded as "Photographer of the Year" at the Moscow International Photo Awards for the series ”Grey Matter(s)”