Where Ravens Cry: Jakob de Boer

Last week was meant to be the much-anticipated opening of Paris Photo New York where Marshall Contemporary was set to present a solo exhibition of photographs by Jakob de Boer. Since we can’t all be together, I want to share some insight into Jakob and his work, our collaboration, and why I think his project stands out from a plethora of excellent contemporary landscape photography. Most of all, I want to share the works we had tirelessly prepared for the fair. The gallery's virtual presentation offered here provides the first in-depth display of prints from the series, along with a massive 3-meter wide multi-panel piece. Made during a two-year period over eight extensive trips to Canada's Pacific Northwest and prompted by a fascination with its myths, Jakob de Boer immersed himself in this world to understand why mythology comparable to that of the Greco-Roman era was birthed out of this remote region. 

Here below we hope to present Jakob's exhibition to the best of our ability in these newly distant circumstances. We chose to frame the large-format works in a hybrid of classic and contemporary presentations; The gelatin silver prints are mounted on Stonehenge paper and Alupanel, floated over archival rag board in a shadow-box, custom gray stained walnut frame. I hope they inspire you to appreciate the craft of fine printmaking, and even more importantly, to cherish our relationship to the land and those who have protected it for millennia before us.

Please enjoy the exhibition followed by a short film and essay below.

- Douglas Marshall

We see that Jakob’s interest, or at least a primary one, lies in the genesis of things. Where it all begins. And furthermore, how the beginnings should influence how we treat those subjects today. As with coffee, Where Ravens Cry is a study of origins, this time those landscapes that birthed the mythologies of native cultures such as the Haida. Fog-shrouded lakes and dense black forests. Silent stones full of mystic significance.

To my knowledge, unlike western landscapes of the United States which have been photographed in nearly every way imaginable by countless photographers, very few if any, aside from Jakob’s countryman Edward Burtynsky, who coincidentally was there during the same seasons, have studied western British Columbia in a fine art focused body of work. Even rarer, with the subtext of mythology as a focus of the artist’s intent. Perhaps because these landscapes are so incredibly remote and thus difficult to access with nearly constant inclement weather.

Through his series, Jakob examines a world few have seen, at a poignant time when the region faces the logging of ancient forests and the invasion of pipelines. The result is a sweeping narrative; An immersive story that unfolds through forty-eight large-format photographs, revolving around themes of life, death, memory, and transformation, often fused into Jakob’s prints with motifs from the world he encountered.

In Where Ravens Cry, nothing is what it seems. Duality is a subtext, just as it is in the myths. Hallmarks of this region, such as The Balance Rock, a sacred remnant from the ice age, the Thunderbird’s Nest, fabled as the home of the last remaining thunderbird, desolate coastlines and massive cedar trees punctuate the work. Although interjected with other subjects, such as giant totem pole faces and carvings of anthropomorphic masks, it’s the recurring presence of this region’s myths, presented in a centerpiece, 3-meter pentaptych, “The Pre-Myth”, that sets the mystical and cinematic tone for this striking body of work.

But aesthetically pleasing, dramatic images are only that until they exist as prints. Jakob’s prints are exquisite. Toned or varnished gelatin silver prints are produced with every possible attention to quality and preservation which is a crucial part of the process, creating the art-object. It is one thing to make a powerful image full of tonality on the retina display of a smartphone, it’s another thing entirely to manifest a tangible artwork embedded with the time, skill, and intention of the artist behind it. 

In all of the stories, it always comes back to the Earth... the relationship of man and nature. So I wanted to come here and go back to those stories. Those legends and those mythologies. Go to the origin and experience them.

- Jakob de Boer

Artist Bio 

Jakob de Boer, born in 1974 in Toronto, began his career in the Film & Television arena, producing and directing over 100 episodes of television. Jakob’s work as a photographer has exhibited in Italy, Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States. His photographs are held in a number of collections and have been the subject of installations in cities including Melbourne, Toronto, Seattle, Cologne, Los Angeles, and Milan at the 2015 World Expo. Jakob has collaborated with Leica Camera on multiple projects, the latest being Origin in Tanzania, produced with La Marzocco in 2015. This body of work continues to exhibit internationally. Jakob’s passion for the art of the handcrafted print has led to his study of various printing techniques with a number of renowned printmakers. Jakob divides his time between Toronto and Paris.