Where Shadows Cross began in early 2020 during the pandemic. Spurred by the habit and need to make images, Jim embarked on a series of road trips to take pictures. It was conceived as a travel log starting east of the Mississippi heading towards the Atlantic. It features unknown people of the South during a plague.
The series reflects stories and experiences that would otherwise go untold. Nearly all of the people who appear in the images are strangers — individuals encountered, then chosen while searching for the locations that would house the story waiting to be told. All these tales are choices offered, never forced, lit for the shadows at the precise time to convey ghostly overtones and conjure up tales.
Where Shadows Cross was exhibited at the Georgia Museum of Art, July 22 – October 8, 2023
An eleven-frame photographic novella exploring obsession, perfection, and the solitude of the creative process. Originally conceived as a single drawing of a mannequin, the project evolved into a complex personal work produced over four months and exhibited at M Project Gallery in New York. Presented chronologically as 40-by-30-inch prints, the series unfolds like the pages of a graphic novel.
Through the story of a woodcarver carving the same doll again and again in pursuit of the perfect form, the work reflects on the pressure to deliver, the shifting definitions of success, and the fixation that takes hold in the act of creating. The Unfortunate Moment of Misunderstanding (A Novella) is ultimately a meditation on the human condition disguised as a story about a man and his dolls. The narrative remains intentionally open, inviting viewers to bring their own understanding of ambition, judgment, and the endurance to continue.
Fiscus has long been interested in tintypes for their material presence and permanence. The process was never used as a display of technique, but as a way to build portraits that felt slightly untethered from reality. Though each plate reflects a particular person and moment in time, the finished objects feel closer to artifacts than photographs.
Each person in the series was chosen intentionally. Ryse, a server whose determination and endurance recalled the heroic labor iconography of the early twentieth century. Gordon Sage, a Marine who fought beside Jim’s father on Iwo Jima. George, a longtime companion photographed at his flat in London. Hardy, a rock star poet.
The body of work later led to an invitation to photograph inside the Royal College of Physicians in London.
An ongoing series dedicated to capturing real people in environments intentionally chosen to imply a story. Fiscus continues to find individuals who embody the character, texture, and spirit of the town he calls home.