Jake Hill

Facilities Series - UW Milwaukee’s Golda Meir Library

With a focus on photography, and a practice of apprehending physical space and translating it into imagery, Jake Hill had his mind elsewhere while being shown the contents of the vast collections of UWM’s Golda Meir Library. Completing his undergraduate degree at UWM just a few years prior, Hill was used to the structure and flow of the Library and found a sense of intimacy when returning to this familiar institution. Making a mental switch from someone whose intentions within the walls of the Library were purely academic, Hill re-approached the Library as an entity with a simpler, more objective purpose.

Rather than working with the vast materials found within the Libraries’ collections, Hill’s interests centered on the physical space that the Library occupies as a keeper of information. Focusing within the structure of the systems within the building, both informational and infrastructural, Hill captured photographs of the lesser-seen or noted aspects of the Library as a facility in an attempt to highlight the importance of physicality and its relationship with information.

In so doing, Hill was struck by the human element connected to this information. The combination of the space’s purpose with its contents, amenities, and equipment alongside the individuals who curate and organize its essence creates a sort of harmony within the image. Hill demonstrates that in an increasingly digital age, these quiet interiors filled with physical objects are still necessary.