Michael Marnin Jacobs, MA, explores in his doctoral dissertation how art, specifically photography, can be used for illuminating the past for a clearer understanding in the present. Central to his research is the exploration of how the presence of absence created by post-memory, personal and collective trauma can be approached through an artist's vision. The study aims to create a space for dialogue and reflection on the Holocaust, its ongoing impact, and the role of art in deeper understanding and processing of historical trauma.

Photography serves as the primary tool of Jacobs' investigation on how to describe the weight and presence of absence. The dissertation includes an artistic component, the exhibition Grant Me Light (Suo minulle valosi) which was on display in the Galleries Valo and Katve in Rovaniemi in 2021.

"Such a complicated subject matter as the dynamics and consequences of anti-Semitism over history and within my family history has required approaches to photography that are not commonly practiced or appreciated within the traditions of photography's short history," says Jacobs.

Michael Marnin Jacobs: Night Falls. 2020. Silver gelatin. A work from the Grant Me Light exhibition at galleries Valo and Katve in 2021.

The exhibition was a body of Jacobs' photographic work that charts the labyrinthian currents back and forth through time where the Jewish diaspora, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust stream through him and into his artistic process and identity.

"These photographic works, in their varying forms, are the visual solutions to immense and challenging questions of identity, understanding the self, and about the place and role of this history in all aspects of my life, most specifically as a visual artist," describes Jacobs.

Michael Marnin Jacobs: Radom Ghetto Executioner's Wall (2019) / Salmivaara Forced Labor Gravel Pit (2020). Silver gelatin. A work from the Grant Me Light exhibition at galleries Valo and Katve in 2021.

In Jacobs' dissertation, fine art photography proves to hold a power of expression and to be an instigator for dialogue that impacts on thinking and motivates action.

"Photography, as a memory-keeping medium, can play a crucial role in externalizing and solidifying internal thought processes. It can offer both a record and a means to engage with the weight of historical trauma. In addition, it is a formidable means of expression both existing in harmony with time and breaking its domain over our perceptions of time itself," says Jacobs.

Through the act of visualizing reflections, feelings and experiences, the photographs become representations bridging the personal to the collective memory, creating a space for reflection and understanding.

Michael Marnin Jacobs: A Black Star. 2020. Silver gelatin. A work from the Grant Me Light exhibition at galleries Valo and Katve in 2021.

Information on the public examination

MA Michael Marnin Jacobs will be defending his dissertation The Weight of Absence: A Ghost Hunt through Time and Space and the Geography of History. A Diaspora Story. Meditations and contemplations on concealed history and the span and affliction of anti-Semitism with the permission of the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland on Friday 6 June 2025 at 12 (noon) in Esko and Asko Hall (the main building of the University of Lapland, address: Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi).

Docent, Doctor of Fine Arts Jyrki Siukonen will act as an opponent and Professor Jaana Erkkilä-Hill as a custodian.

The public examination is in English and can be followed online at https://blogi.eoppimispalvelut.fi/ulapland2/

One work from the artistic component, The Visible Unseen, is currently on view in Gallery Kopio at the University of Lapland (Yliopistonkatu 8, Rovaniemi) until 19 June 2025.

Michael Marnin Jacobs: The Visible Unseen.

Information on the doctoral candidate

Michael Marnin Jacobs, 67, was born in the high mountains of Colombia in 1958. His family migrated to San Francisco, California, in 1969. He has lived in Finland since 1990.

He has completed studies in advertizing and industrial photography in 1979, a BA in photojournalism, visual anthropology and art in 1986, and a MA in audio-visual media studies in 2015.

Since 1991 he has worked as a full-time university teacher in photography at the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland.

Further information

Michael Marnin Jacobs
email: michael.jacobs (at) ulapland.fi
michaelmarninjacobs.com

Information on the publication

Michael Marnin Jacobs (2025) The Weight of Absence. A Ghost Hunt through Time and Space and the Geography of History. A Diaspora Story. Meditations and contemplations on concealed history and the span and affliction of anti-Semitism. Acta electronica Universitatis Lapponiensis 414. ISBN 978-952-337-495-9, ISSN 1796-6310.

The permanent address of the publication: https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN: 978-952-337-495-9