Join us for a conversation with Dallas-based artist Jaime Acker regarding his ongoing project, Observer Observed. Currently on view as an exhibition at Liliana Bloch Gallery, the work is centered on reciprocal portrait exchange and the dynamics of shared authorship. The project evolved from an initial collaboration into a sustained series where Acker photographs artists and models within their own self-curated spaces. Rather than traditional portraiture, the series captures moments of unguarded presence, exploring the intricate relationship between the observer and the observed.

Acker documents these encounters by creating individual, handmade casebound books for each subject. These objects combine photographs with written text that describes the subject’s physical environment, serving as both a caption and a record of the artist’s lived response to the space. The series began with a portrait exchange with a subject named Emily, whose “intensely curious gaze” sparked an interest in capturing a raw sense of vulnerability and authenticity. Consequently, Acker sought out collaborators who understood how to observe and be seen as a component of their own artistic practice.

The upcoming discussion will explore artist books as intimate objects, collaboration as a form of portraiture, and writing as a way of witnessing place and body. Acker, who explores ideas of gender and power through his work, holds a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Methodist University. His work has been supported by residencies in Berlin, including Picture Berlin and the Institut für Alles Mögliche, and is included in the permanent collection of the Willis Library at the University of North Texas

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