Jackie Nickerson

Image and Photographer Analysis

Basic Information
Jackie Nickerson was born in Boston, USA but was raised in London, England. Jackie lived on a
Zimbabwean farm for 5 years which allowed her to lots of research and travel in a Sub-Saharan
region. She was born in 1960 and is currently 62 years of age. Nickerson’s work was mainly done in
London and parts of Ireland. The series that I am interested in was her ‘Fine Art’ but specifically her
‘Field Test’ chapter of her series. The image that I am analysing is called ‘Grey Head II’ of 2019.

The photo I am analysing displays a human body from the neck up covered in a mix
of materials including brown paper bags, grey mesh and pegs. The main focus of
the image is the covered face as it gives a feel of concealment and mystery. I like
how simplistic the image is to create but how much your eyes get drawn to it. The
lighting in this image displays no shadows which leads me to believe Nickerson
used multiple lights from different angles. The model is in a very straight and
mannequin position which I think adds to the concealment and mystery in the
image. In my work, I would like to use Jackie Nickerson's style of brown paper and
mesh coverings over the face but add my own style to give more character instead
of the straight mannequin look.