Jimmy Nicholson
Jimmy Nicholson is a Quincy, Florida-based photographer whose formal photographic training consisted of a single photography class at Florida State. Originally from Bainbridge, Georgia, Nicholson was mentored by fellow collection member Paul Kwilecki. His body of work consists of two distinct periods. From 1974–1982, he traveled the roads of North Florida, Southwest Georgia, and to a lesser extent, Southeast Alabama, land bounded by the Flint, Chattahoochee, and Apalachicola Rivers, finding subjects to photograph. In 2013, he started producing work again, focusing on documenting life along the Forgotten Coast of North Florida, a section of coastline stretching from Mexico Beach to Carrabelle. Nicholson was a finalist in Critical Mass Photography’s annual awards in both 2023 and 2024, and his most recent body of works focuses on documenting migrant workers in the tomato fields and forests of Gadsden County. His tell-tale analog style of photography creates a sense of timelessness in his work, making it almost impossible to distinguish which period his work was shot in. This documentary approach to capturing the South throughout its many decades of change creates a sense of profundity within Nicholson’s work. In addition to The Do Good Fund, Nicholson’s work can be found in the permanent collections of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans) and The Gadsden Arts Center and Museum (Quincy, FL).
“My work is my diary of the places I have gone, the people I have met, and events that I have witnessed.”