Will Jacks Artist Exhibit "rabbit, rabbit" to Open May 3 at the Birmingham Public Library

Will Jacks, an assistant professor of art-photography at Troy University, is the visionary behind the rabbit, rabbit exhibit opening May 3 at the Central Library's Fourth Floor Gallery downtown.     
 Photo credit: K. Weatherford

Birmingham, Ala. - The Birmingham Public Library is hosting a new art exhibit, rabbit, rabbit, opening to the public on Friday, May 3, in the Fourth Floor Gallery of the Central Library downtown, 2100 Park Place. The rabbit, rabbit exhibit was created by artist Will Jacks, an artist and assistant professor of art/photography at Troy University. (Please note the exhibition title is NOT capitalized as the artist intended). 

The exhibition is the latest in the Birmingham Public Library's visual arts series, Art For Everyone, which debuted in January and is happening throughout 2024 at the Central Library downtown. The series is made possible by a grant that the Alabama State Council on the Arts awarded to the Friends Foundation of the Birmingham Public Library. 

It opens as another art exhibit, A World in a Grain of Sand, is entering its second month on the first floor of the Central Library. A World in a Grain of Sand concludes on Friday, May 31, 2024.

The reception for Will Jacks' show on the fourth floor and two art shows on the first floor of the Central Library (A World in a Grain of Sand and Sloss Metal Arts Exhibition) will take place on Saturday, May 4, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Paul Barrett is the curator and Margaret Splane of BPL is the organizing curator of rabbit, rabbit.

Will Jacks - After Baseball, wheat-pasted photo collage on board

Will Jacks - And for Sale, wheat-pasted photo collage on board

In a Q&A with BPL Director of Public Relations Roy Williams, Jacks explained the vision behind his rabbit, rabbit exhibition opening next week (Friday, May 3) at the Central Library. 

BPL: What inspired you to create your new exhibit 'rabbit, rabbit' 

Jacks: "This past New Year’s Day, my mother sent a text message to our family group. 'Rabbit, Rabbit!' she said. We followed her lead, all wishing each other a joyous New Year and adding to Mom’s quirky superstition. I began thinking about that term, Rabbit, Rabbit, and how often I’d heard my mother use it. She told me it helped bring good luck. If the words are the first thing a person utters on the first of a new month, then that person will enjoy prosperity and goodwill. I accepted her reasoning. I still find myself starting most months with the phrase. I figure it can’t hurt to try." 

BPL: Describe what attendees will see when they come see rabbit, rabbit. 

Jacks: "For the last few years, I’ve thought a lot about paradigms and conditioned understandings. I’ve been particularly interested in those parts of my life connected to southern folklore and social practices. I’ve noticed dualities more and more frequently—where things are both true and untrue at the same time. So much of how I’ve lived my life has been based on accepting how those before me lived theirs.

We are not just the sum of our own experiences. We are the sum of the experiences of everyone we’ve ever encountered. What they choose to do and believe has an impact on how we do the same. Over time, historical accuracies become blurred, and ideas shift, often to the point that what is understood in the present looks nothing like it did in the past."

BPL: How has working on rabbit, rabbit helped you grow personally as an artist/photographer? 

Jacks: "I made this work to help me articulate the patterns I’ve witnessed, accepted, and carried throughout my life. These are photographs I’ve gathered while wandering. I do so often without the intent of making anything at all. I simply find solace in meandering and looking. Inevitably, an image emerges, and I record it. It isn’t until much later that I revisit my archives and find connections. This body of work is the physical reference to some of those connections."

BPL: Describe the photography techniques used in this project.

Jacks: "I wanted to recall old processes of sign-making. I’ve used wheatpasting techniques that point to early ways of advertising. Scale is achieved by collaging smaller prints together to form a larger collective. Edges are misaligned—from a distance, they appear to connect perfectly, but upon closer examination, their imperfections emerge. Lines are askew, pieces overlap and overwhelm one another, and patterns break down. Yet, they hold their projection if you stand far enough away."

BPL: Any closing thoughts? 

 Jacks: "I wonder sometimes if the point of it all—whatever IT means to you or me or the inevitable connections the two of us are bound to have in our own histories and families—isn’t as simple as that movement, that dance. We get too close, we lose the big picture, we stand too far away, we fail to see the cracks. So, we move, and look, and consider and move again. Somewhere inside that ballet, if we’re lucky, we begin to break free." 

About the artist:

Will Jacks is a process artist best known for his photographic work. He also incorporates explorations with land, objects, sound, video, and community engagement into his practice. His research examines the blurred areas between art and journalism, individual and collective, and the impact of each on the other. Will’s first monograph documents the juke-joint Po’ Monkey’s Lounge, which serves as a prism for examining cultural tourism and preservation and the complexities prevalent in both. It was published by University Press of Mississippi in October of 2019, and Jacks was recognized by the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters for outstanding achievement in photography for this work. In 2020, he completed an MFA in Studio Art from the Maine College of Art, and in 2021 he completed his MA in Journalism from the University of Mississippi. Currently Will is an Assistant Professor of Art / Photography at Troy University.