Jessie Spencer Smith (b. 1996) is an American born artist based in Naarm. Her practice is primarily based in oil painting and drawing. She graduated from VCA in 2023 and has exhibited locally at TCB Gallery, Linden Project Space, George Paton Gallery, and Green Floor Gallery.

‘I’ve always struggled to read books of short stories. Found it hard to invest myself, to feel intimate with the characters when the time shared together is fleeting. Short stories are the one night stand of the literary world and my attachment issues make the emotional experience of them too messy. That said, I like the idea of short stories as a visual motif. Paintings as scenes with a distinct pathos/logs/eros. Hung together, the narrative is not linear, but there is familiar feeling that extends throughout each. The heaviness of a writer’s hand.

I’m not interested in this series saying something objective. I hope they are read as short stories, moments or memories that can extend multi-directionally. I thought about family, aging, patterns, and dusty boxes in the back of attics when I was making them.’