Jeffrey Wall was born in 1946 in Vancouver, where he lives today. He has an extensive academic background, having studied at the University of British Columbia and the Courtauld Institute, and taught at the University of British Columbia and the European Graduate School. His signature artistic style consists of large-scale cibachrome photographs, lit from behind. His subjects, urban, suburban, and landscape contexts are often given a seemingly photojournalistic treatment. He has received various prizes for his work, including The Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Art Photography in 2001, the Erna and Victor Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 2002, the Roswitha Haftmann Prize for the Visual Arts in 2003, and the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in 2008. Wall is considered an influential figure for the Dusseldorf group artists, including Candida Hofer and Andreas Gursky.