Jael O’Connor
Jael O’Connor is a British painter based in Brighton and Hove, UK. She studied Fine Art Painting at the University of Brighton, graduating in 2005.
“My main artistic inspiration lies with the portrait and in figurative painting, which has grown from my love of life drawing and painting. I am interested in the human form, face, and character, and the theatre of how we present ourselves to the world. I am concerned with costume and the internal narratives that my subjects project through how they look; the clothes, hairstyles or accessories that they are often adorned with, or the lack thereof, are an important theme in my work, and this can signify identity and the emotional or psychological hinterland of the sitter. Recently, this interest has led me to look at images of women from history, in particular tattooed women from the early 20th century and the perceived autonomy they had over their own bodies and appearances in relation to societal norms.”