About
Following her practice-based PhD at the University for the Creative Arts, Peta Jacobs centres her work around László Moholy-Nagy’s seminal 1917 question: “Space, time, material, are they one with Light?” Her theoretical inquiries delve into the elusive "immaterial substance" shared by quantum physics and Eastern mystical traditions. By presenting shifting perspectives relative to the viewer’s position, her work actively challenges the nature of certainty and human perception.
Her doctoral research was a deep dive into the nature of light, seeking to unfold new aesthetic possibilities while exploring the metaphysical questions of duality and wholeness. While Western thinking often uses dualities to separate, her work aims to overcome these binary oppositions. By unifying contrasts—art and science, real and illusion, light and dark—without stripping them of their unique qualities, she hopes to offer a space for different thinking.
Using optical materials like beam splitters—tools typically used in science to determine if light is a particle or a wave—she developed several series of investigations that present fresh insights into art. This process of "thinking-through-making" allows her to question our assumptions about reality, specifically the entangled relationship between the viewer and the art. Rather than providing absolute answers, her practice interrogates the potentiality of uncertainty, creating visual forms that allow others to experience these quantum questions first-hand.
Contact: petajacobs@gmail.com
Artist's CV
Solo Exhibitions:
Materialising Quantum Light. Solo exhibition. The Gallery, 96 Belsize Lane, London NW3 5BE. 12 February - 26 February 2026.
Beyond Duality and Other Quantum Questions: Artist in Focus. Newlands House Gallery. Petworth, West Sussex. 11 April - 22 June 2025.
Beyond the Rainbow. Installation. South Hill Arts Centre, Bracknell, UK. September - November 2023.
Quantum Light: Beyond a Crisis of Perception. Solo show. James Hockey Gallery, Farnham, Surrey, UK. November - December 2022.
Unit DX Anniversary Event, Arnolfini, Bristol, UK. May 2019.
On the Edge of Becoming... Solo show. Centrespace Gallery, Bristol, UK. May - June 2015.
Counterpoint: Design Meets Art. A&D Gallery, London, UK. January 2015.
Group Exhibitions:
Silent Tree group exhibition and auction for Crisis. Sussex Mansions Gallery, 65 Old Brompton Rd, South Kensington, London SW7 3JS. 8 - 19 December 2025.
AVA All Art Program. Nobu AVA Resort Cancun. Mexico. Nov 2024 - present.
Mixing Identities: Contemporary Venice. Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello, Venice, Italy. July 2024.
Art Exhibition. Art Nou 277 Gallery, Barcelona, Spain. February - March 2024.
Tansa 探査: Japanese threads of influence Process and Making. GalleryGallery, Kyoto, Japan. May - June 2022.
Tansa—Large Works. South Hill Park, Bracknell, UK. March - April 2022.
Tansa 探査: Japanese threads of influence Process and Making. Craft Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, UK. January - March 2022.
The Makers Tale. Wiltshire Creatives, Salisbury Art Centre, UK. Sept - October 2021.
Temporal Connections. Farnham Maltings, Surrey, UK. March 2018.
Unlikely Perceptions. Old Fire Station Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, UK. February 2018.
Immateriality: Possibilities and Experiences. Herbert Reed Gallery, Canterbury, University for Creative Arts, UK. April 2016.
Interactions with the Real, Royal Holloway University, London, UK. November 2015.
Lines of Communication, Hoxton Arches, London, UK. May 2015.
Art from the Archives. Young Gallery, Salisbury, UK. October - November 2014.
Coded:Decoded unravelling the message, Mall Galleries, London, UK. May 2014.
Cloth and Memory {2}, International. Salts Mill, Saltaire, UK. August - November 2013.
Made 2012, James Hockey Gallery, Farnham, UK. August - September 2012.
Hidden Places, Hidden Spaces, Mall Galleries, London, UK. May - June 2012.
Bite Size, Nagoya University of the Arts, Tokyo, Japan. May 2012.
Made 2011, Group show. Hockey Gallery, Farnham. UK. August 2012.
Art Fairs:
The Other Art Fair. Truman Brewery. London. 5 March - 8 March 2026.
The Other Art Fair. Truman Brewery. London. 8-12 October 2025.
London Contemporary Art Fair. ELEMENTS Contemporary Art Space. 29 November - 10 December 2024
The Other Art Fair. Truman Brewery. London. 1- 14 October 2024.
Rome International Art Fair 2024, Medina Art Gallery, Rome, Italy. August 30 - September 12, 2024
In Permanent Exhibition:
Quantum Questions—Line Interrupted, #6. 2017. University for Creative Arts, Farnham, UK.
Quantum Questions—Line Interrupted, #7. Science Creates, St Phillips, Bristol, UK.
Particles on the Edge of Becoming, #7. Science Creates, St Phillips, Bristol, UK.
Particles on the Edge of Becoming, #8. Science Creates, St Phillips, Bristol, UK.
Shadows of Distinction. People and Process Gallery Salts Mill, Saltaire, UK.
Sir Titus Salt, Salts Mill, Saltaire, UK.
Public Art Commission:
Beyond the Rainbow. Installation. Lexicon Shopping Centre, Bracknell, UK. July - September 2023.
Papers and Presentations:
Makers' Tale Panel discussion. Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury, UK. 31 May 2020.
Frozen Light: An Artist's Response to David Bohm's Theories. Essay for The Pari Perspectives Journal. December 2020.
Unfolding Colourful Secrets Tightly Enfolded in White Light. Pari Community Online Conversations: Science, Art and David Bohm. May 2020.
Beyond Being and Becoming there is a Crease, an Enfolding... Research Student Conference, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury. 2018.
Art Education:
November 2023 PhD from University of the Arts London and University for the Creative Arts: Making Quantum Questions Material: 'Soft' Textile Thinking for the 'Hard' Questions Arising from an Investigation of Light.
2014 - 2022 Art practice-based PhD research, UCA, Farnham.
2010 - 2012 MA Textiles—Distinction. UCA, Farnham.
2007 - 2010 BA (Hons), Textile Design—First Class Honours. UCA, Farnham
Awards and Residencies:
Nov 2010 Winner of 31st Takifuji International Art Award. Tokyo, Japan.
2012-2014 Artist in Residence, University for Creative Arts, Farnham.