Marcey Jacobson

Marcella "Marcey" Jacobson (September 27, 1911 – July 26, 2009) was an American photographer who moved to Chiapas, Mexico in the 1950s, and was best known for her photographs of the indigenous peoples of Southern Mexico.

Early life

Jacobson was born on September 27, 1911, in the Bronx.^[1] She had been on her first trip to Mexico and was in Taxco when she first heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and she promptly returned to New York by bus. She saw a sign on a streetcar advertising government-funded courses and decided to take up drafting. She first worked as a draftsman for Emerson Radio on a top-project Radar development project and worked on the designs of various industrial equipment in the ensuing years.^[2]

She was a socialist who became involved in political causes, protesting at the White House against the planned execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.^[1] Her friend, painter Janet Marren had "fallen in love with San Cristobal" upon her arrival there and invited Jacobson to visit.^[2] In September 1956, Jacobson had been working as a mechanical drafter in New York City and had visited Mexico several times before, but a planned 10-day trip to Mexico to follow up on Marren's invitation — taken in the wake of the difficulties she experienced as a Communist supporter and lesbian at the height of McCarthyism — ended up with her settling in Chiapas with Marren, her companion and partner.^[1][2] Though she occasionally returned to New York to do some spot work and earn some money, she would return to Mexico and made Chiapas her home for the remainder of her life.^[1][3]

Photography in Mexico

In Mexico she borrowed a Rolleiflex camera and taught herself how to take and develop pictures, using how-to books as a source of instruction. The bulk of her 14,000 negatives represented photos of everyday life, providing details of the local people, their business and religious practices, taken in the marketplace and along its narrow streets, focusing on people and on landscapes.^[1] She would ask Americans coming to the area to bring the photographic chemicals and paper she needed to print her photos.^[1]

A retrospective that included 75 of her photographs was included in a bilingual work published by Stanford University Press in 2001 that was called The Burden of Time / El Cargo del Tiempo.^[1] The 168-page book, edited by Carol Karasik includes pictures taken in the 1960s and 1970s of the day-to-day life of the native Maya and Ladino peoples.^[4] Her portfolio of negatives will be given to Casa Na Bolom, a museum in San Cristóbal de las Casas.^[1]

Death

She died of heart failure at age 97 on July 26, 2009, in San Cristóbal in Chiapas, Mexico, in the state of Chiapas. She left no immediate survivors. Janet Marren, her partner, had died in 1998.^[1]

Published works

• The Burden of Time / El Cargo del Tiempo, Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0804738777

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Weber, Bruce. "Marcey Jacobson, a Photographer Inspired by Mexico, Dies at 97", The New York Times, August 11, 2009. Accessed August 11, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Jacobson, Marcy. "Burden of Time", pp. 9 ff. Accessed August 11, 2009.
3. ^ Staff. "The Burden Of Time: Photographs from the Highlands of Chiapas, Marcey Jacobson, Edited by Carol Karasik", The Review of Arts, Literature,Philosophy and the Humanities. Accessed August 11, 2009.
4. ^ The Burden of Time, Stanford University Press. Accessed August 11, 2009.

Persondata
Name	Jacobson, Marcy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 27, 1911
Place of birth
Date of death	July 26, 2009
Place of death