In search of genuine individualism
Today we have access to almost everything and anything we want, whenever we want it, to the point of losing our identity as individuals. People evolve from free, creative, playful kids into consumers. They adopt and act based on whatever comes to their mind at the given moment. There are very few things left that are still unique.
Sven Jacobsen is drawn to extraordinary, unusual characters who portray their own unique beauty far away from the expected norms society offers. He chooses them because he has the feeling that they stand for something, that they have an opinion of their own and are living their lives while staying true to themselves and their beliefs. They seem to be unswayed by anything that hap- pens to be hip; they simply show their own strong personality.
Photographer Sven Jacobsen
Size 96 pages
Processing Hardcover
Format 30 x 30 cm
Language german, english
ISBN 978-3-946688-46-4
Publishing Date 2018
Sven Jacobsen Back to Mama
On the cover of "Back to Mama", a pretty young woman dressed in 1950s style looks expectantly toward the future with a broad smile. How things turned out is revealed in the 129 pictures that follow, snapshots from the life of her son, photographer Sven Jacobsen. "Back to Mama" is Jacobsen's personal documentary describing the emotional divide between family life and loneliness, between animated and quiet love. At the same time, his images reflect how the universal striving for happiness is expressed in both the simplest and the most important things in life. "These images are warm and filled with emotion and brave the perfectionism of our time. They pay hommage to life and its lovableness". (Sven Jacobsen) Sven Jacobsen (b. 1969 in Kiel, Germany) has been working since 1999 as a freelance photographer for renowned national and international agencies and magazines, such as Geo, SZ Magazin, Stern, Rolling Stone Magazine and The Guardian Magazine. His works have received distinctions including the John Kobal Award and the Reinhart Wolf Prize and have been featured in numerous exhibitions, including at the National Portrait Gallery in London. "Back to Mama" is his fifth book.
Artist Sven Jacobsen
Processing Hardcoverwith gold foil stamping and title plate
129 color illustrations
Size 272 pages
Format 24 x 30 cm
ISBN 978-3-86828-263-42011
Artbuyer Germany 2008
It‘s no work if it‘s fun - as the saying goes.
And this book was fun: involving 140 artbuyers from Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart,
Munich, Dusseldorf on 12 shooting days between August and October 2007.
It was fun to get the people in front of the camera who usually are the driving forces behind it. Their furtive sighs expressing their willingness to do anything for a good shot, despite not having a single decent photo of themselves, sparked the idea behind the whole project.
It was fun to witness astonising transformations.
Initial timidity gradually being replaced by pride. And, we admit, there were some who started off full of insecurity and whose creative wit and posing skills reached celebrity format.
It was more than fun to work with Sven Jacobsen.
His reaction was spontaneous enthousiasm when we presented our idea to him.Which wouldn‘t have been obvious. We would like to thank him on behalf of everyone who contributed to the project.
But the fun also makes sense - as the more or less secret message of this book is:
Art buying is an important discipline. Particularly these days, when everyone is talking of the cost of things when what really counts is efficiency.
High-quality, professional art buying reinforces the initial idea and saves detours.
It should be taken seriously.
There are enough good examples of first class art buying.
Simply look at the pictures on the following pages.
Photographer Sven Jacobsen
Size 320 pages
Processing Hardcover
Format 24 x 30 cm
Language german, english
ISBN 978-3-934687-49-3
Publishing Date 2008
A Portraits Project
In august 2002 i started in the streets of st.pauli with large-format black-and-white portraits against a white background. What moved me to portray this district was the unbelievable density of the most diverse types of people who live and work here - young successful ones, as well as impoverished or neglected, searching wanderers, old neighborhood icons, people who moved from the provinces and artists. The most varied and extreme life plans can be found here in a very small space, and St. Pauli is, depending on the individual situation, either the beginning or the end of a human existence.
The special atmosphere of this quarter, which I have never experienced anywhere else, should be recorded, because St. Pauli is a quarter in transition: the original structure, the “village-like”, is increasingly giving way to a stronger focus on the “serious” business world and at the same time one art family tourism.
I only take photos in front of white because St. Pauli can be found much more in the faces of the residents than in the well-known pictures of streets and neon signs. I remove people from their environment and focus only on people.
Photographer Sven Jacobsen
Size 128 pages
Processing Softcover
Format 21 x 25 cm
Language german, english
ISBN 978-3-922805-83-3
Publishing Date 2004
Simplicity
In this book Sven Jacobsen tries to capture the beauty and the lightness of simplicity, which often surrounds us very close and everyday.
His pictures explain the amiability of the simple with a lot of irony and humor.
Photographer Sven Jacobsen
Size 128 pages
Processing Hardcover
Format 21 x 27.5 cm
Language german, english
Publishing Date 2002