Collection: Jessica Gadsby

ARTIST STATEMENT

Raised in rural Gloucestershire, Jessica is a keen walker and traveller.  Inevitably the landscape, maps and mapping have become strong themes in her work, beginning in 2001 with her degree show at the University of Leeds.

From 2001 Jessica has lived and worked in East London where many generations of immigrants have found themselves. Through her work with Bangladeshi and Somali families, Jessica began to explore themes of migration and dislocation, exhibiting pieces locally in Mile End and Brick Lane.

From 2006 Jessica began to use old maps as the basis for her work, collaging different aspects together in order to create contrasts of colour, texture and location. Butterflies are the final element of these pieces and act as both a metaphor for journeying, transience and the soul but also as a powerful visual tool to carry the eye across the image. Through these pictures Jessica aims to draw the viewer on a journey across the landscape of the picture and to contemplate a conceptual journey through ones experience of the wider landscape.

Private collectors nationwide own Jessica’s work and she has shown in London and nationally.