Jacko Vassilev is an internationally acclaimed art and press photographer, actively working in the field since 1983.
He was born in 1951 in Stara Zagora in Bulgaria. His work has been widely shown around the world in museums and galleries, institutes and private collections. His photographs are included in the permanent collections of the International Center for Photography in New York City, the European Center of Photography in Paris, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. Since 1996 Vassilev’s been residing and traveling around United States documenting the North Americans in a book of portraits, soon to be published.
“The grand and endless expressions on their faces are so natural and very real; sometimes I wish my photography could have captured smell and sound. Photography is the tool that I use to breach borders--no regimes, no walls, no
corrupt politicians. As long as I can walk and see, I will photograph mankind. This is my gift to future generations."
- Jacko Vassilev
“The entire tortuous, convoluted history of Bulgaria is written upon the faces of Jacko Vassilev’s subjects. But that is not quite the right term. These are people, not subjects. They are his beloved compatriots and countrymen. There is no distance, no barrier between these countrymen, and Vassilev the portraitist.“
-Tom Collins, Santa Fe Reporter
“Jacko Vassilev is a storyteller for the ages. With his camera for a pen and 35mm
black-and-white film for his ink, he conveys in the faces of his subjects the
timeless story of the human struggle to belong in a world of poverty,
totalitarianism, and indifference. You might be seeing a still from an old
black-and-white movie, such is the scope of "character" that permeates all of this
legendary photographer's work. His subjects are caught at their most human and
vulnerable moments, with a breathtaking naturalness. There are no poses here; he
has simply captured them at this moment in their story, and their faces tell the
rest.”
-Maureen Baumgartner