Landscape nominee

God’s son was wearing grey, the colour of undyed wool, worn by peasants and the poor. Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) never had the intention to paint only with grey, but he gave in: “In the course of my work I have eliminated one colour after another and what has remained is grey, grey, grey!” In 2014 the English newspaper The Guardian declared grey as the “Colour of the Decade”.

Colors simply are reflected light, individually put together in our brain, a place also called “Grey Matter.” No light, no colours. By photographing our colourful world at times & places, where there is no colour, the illusion of a colourful reality is being unmasked.

For two years Tom Jacobi travelled to six continents, searching for archaic landscapes - mystical places that had been shaped over thousands of years by nature, yet they seem timeless, even modern. The landscapes unfold their strength and spirituality in front of the beholder. Through the absence of the “Juggler Color" the planet seems to find peace, just like it might have done long time before our existence.

Tom Jacobi, born 1956 in Bonn (Germany), started photographing when he was 15 years old. By the age of twenty he became a photographer for the renowned German photo agency "Sven Simon". One year later he was hired by famous „Stern" magazine, being its youngest staff photographer ever. He stayed with „Stern" for nine years, winning many prizes for his creative work and was appointed as a member of the "Art Directors Club Germany". He left the magazine in 1986 to works as a freelance photographer in the field of fashion, celebrities and advertising. His last own photographic oeuvre then was called "Where God Resides" – a two year travel around the world, capturing the beauty of sacred sites. The project was shown in several exhibitions, accompanied by a bestselling coffee-table book.
From 2000 – 2008 he returned to „Stern" as its creative director. During that period, he also published the quarterly book series "Stern Fotografie", founded the monthly photo magazine „View" and became its first editor-in-chief. In 2014 he started the work on his latest project "Grey Matter(s)". In 2016 he was awarded as “Photographer of the Year” at the Moscow International Foto Awards.