Alison Jackson x Neeme Raud | Fake News: Is the Camera Lying?

How is a lie born when it still feels so convincingly true and why are we so willing to believe it?

With Fotografiska’s summer major exhibition “Photography in Power: Making Worlds Visible”, British artist Alison Jackson arrives in Estonia.

Her staged realities have made audiences hesitate, smile, and sometimes feel uneasy, and have even disrupted public space so provocatively that her “truths” have at times been removed from the urban environment.

Jackson creates images of events that have never happened, celebrities appearing to do things they never actually did. Or did they? Fake news is not only created in front of us, but also within us, in the moment we choose to believe something.

Why are we drawn to stories that confirm our biases? Where does the line between real and fictional lie, and why is it becoming increasingly blurred in today’s world? Through sharp satire and provocation, Jackson’s work reveals our own desire to believe what seems too good (or too scandalous) to be false.

The conversation grows from photographic art into a broader exploration of the nerves of our time, unfolding unexpected perspectives and sharp observations. The discussion with Alison Jackson is led by acclaimed journalist Neeme Raud.

Alison Jackson

Alison Jackson is a British contemporary artist, photographer, and filmmaker whose work explores the construction of celebrity culture.

Her practice examines how the media, the public, and celebrities themselves create images that appear real but are often carefully constructed.

Jackson is known for highly realistic staged photographs and films in which she uses celebrity lookalikes to depict them in seemingly private or intimate situations.

In doing so, she deliberately blurs the boundary between reality and fiction, challenging viewers to question how much they can trust what they see. Her work highlights our desire to feel personally connected to celebrities and investigates the power and influence of images in today’s visual culture.

Jackson’s work has been exhibited and collected by numerous prestigious institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery in London, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Fotografiska, in both Tallinn (2019) and other Fotografiska locations. She is also actively involved in supporting and mentoring emerging creative talent.

Photography in Power: Making Worlds Visible, group exhibition, 6 May – 13 September

The exhibition brings together 127 photographers whose work has shaped how we see, interpret, and perceive the world today – among them Helmut Newton, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Avedon, Alison Jackson, and David LaChapelle. The exhibition moves between inner and outer worlds, exploring social tensions, identity, and the paradoxes of beauty and its representation.

At the intersection of documentary and staged approaches, the personal meets the political, vulnerability meets resistance. Photography here is not merely a technique, but a way of making the world visible – revealing connections that might otherwise remain unseen.

The exhibition marks Fotografiska Tallinn’s 7th anniversary and highlights artists who have been part of Fotografiska’s exhibition programme over the years – both internationally and in Tallinn.