[ B I O G R A P H Y ]

Hunter Jackson built his first darkroom in 1970 and pursued the art of photography over the next 20 years. He exhibited his photographs in New York City as part of a 1991 contest juried by Richard Avedon; then life intervened with four children and a career in biotech, but his love of the single, still image remained.

Since returning a few years ago to the practice of photography, he has sought to use the medium to understand the full sweep of our lives, from magnificent new mornings to the nights so dark that life is barely visible — from the grand vision to the oddments of the everyday. “In the end,” Jackson says, “all photographs are still life, offered up for the viewer to animate with their private memories or desires, fears or prayers, their own dreams or sorrows.”

His renewed passion has already been recognized by his inclusion in two juried shows: the Eccles Art Center Biennial Black and White Competition, where his entry won the Paul Muller Award, and Springville’s Museum of Art 100th Annual Spring Salon.

The photographs currently on exhibit were completed over the last year and include, among others, works from two ongoing projects. One seeks to document various aspects of our endangered Great Salt Lake with an eye toward a future compilation of words and pictures in appreciation of this unique resource. The second project deals with the night, using a medium that requires light to explore how we are changed, our perceptions and our emotions, when the lights go out.