Susan Jessop

Growing up in the UK, Susan began her artistic career in museum education, meaning she was immersed in historic objects and layered histories from an early age. This gave Susan an understanding and appreciation of the stories that objects can reveal to us. Susan’s work reflects on those histories to create images that evoke a sense of nostalgia. Susan uses old books and magazines in her paper collages, creating acrylic paintings based on those collage compositions. Starting with a simple landscape background of green earth and blue sky reminiscent of a children’s book illustration, Susan then introduces ambiguous shapes and colours hoping to create a surreal landscape and a sense of slight unease. Susan appreciates the animation-type quality experimenting with different bold colours and paint applications produces in her work – as the shapes and colours serve as memory prompts for certain experiences in her life. Aiming to allow for new associations and meanings in her work, Susan creates semi-abstract compositions for the viewer to relate to.