Born in Vancouver in 1946, Canada.


He studied Art History at the university in Vancouver. In 1969–70 he created his series Landscape Manual, comprising black and white photographs taken through the windscreen of a car. In 1973 he went on to postgraduate work, writing a thesis on Dada, photomontage and the cinema. During the same period he wrote screenplays and made videos.

He took his first colour photographs in 1976 and at the same time, in Madrid, he discovered the painting of Velázquez.

1978 brought the beginning of the extended series of "Transparencies", photographs printed on transparent film. Among them was Picture for Women, inspired by Manet's Un bar aux Folies Bergère. He devoted the period 1984–87 to panoramic landscape works on transparent film.

From 1987 to 1999 he taught at the University of Vancouver and began using digital techniques in 1991. In 1994 he created Odradek, Taboritska 8, the first of his photographs to be inspired by a literary work, in this case Kafka's short story The Cares of a Family Man.

Il presented his work at the Rencontres d’Arles in 2007 with Mark Lewis: Looking at the Galerie Arena.


In France Jeff Wall is represented by the Marian Goodman gallery.