“My art is my dreaming,” says Brunswick/Wurundjeri Country-based Gadigal artist JESWRI. “It tells stories of my childhood, my battles with mental health, my feelings about the world around me as well as political issues such as Aboriginal and human rights.” The multidisciplinary artist found his calling in street art at the age of 18, and now more than a decade later his CV boasts a line-up of impressive commissions. Recent projects include works for Vivid Sydney 2022, collaborations with brands such as Apple, Converse and Aldi, and commissioned works depicting 2022 Australian of the Year and tennis star Dylan Alcott and DjabWurrung Gunnai Gunditjmara woman and Senator for the Greens Lidia Thorpe.
“I fell in love with art through my mum,” says JESWRI (pronounced “Jess-Rye”). “She would get excited by all the art on the way to school. The mural that has never left my mind, I drove by twice a day for years. It was a Boba Fett themed mural by Mistery & Jest in Lewisham [Sydney].” Faceted with humour, hardship and celebration, JESWRI’s work is complex in concept and practice. His Vivid Sydney x Dell collaboration, NOW IN ADHD articulated his struggle with ADHD, physical and mental burnout and subtle references to his Aboriginal heritage, while his work Frank for Prime Minister in Bendigo poked fun at the then Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison who memorably took a holiday to Hawaii during the bushfires. His commission for Reservoir Neighbourhood House Like A Bird Set Free saw JESWRI collaborate with the occupants of the housing commission to portray, in the artists words, “ideas around moving forward, thriving not surviving and the visualisation of change with freedom to move anywhere, boundlessly”.
This approach to his subjects – coming at them from a place of hope and positivity – gives his pop-culture, Dada and “ADHD-inspired” works a unique and brilliant edge. “Alot of my recent influence has been found in music layering and instrumental production.” he says. “If I’ve got a song that I’ve connected with, I will create an internal dialogue around how that makes me feel and how a single line or simile can be seen as a spark to light my creative inferno.” Music plays a big part of JESWRI’s practice and process, helping him think through the thousands of ideas that flash through his brain every minute. But once they have come to fruition, his large-scale works are produced in an almost meditative state. “A day on the wall is fairly autonomous, alot of the creative is done,” he says. “It’s just a matter of transferring my designs on the wall. I’ll have my playlists ready. I generally like to play things that keep me moving. Artists like Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar and Skepta are good to bring me back to my graffiti roots where I feel like I’m there to get in and get out with no questions asked.”
It takes a nuanced creative mind attuned to current political, social and racial issues to produce works with such power, potency and lasting effect. JESWRI is currently working towards his fourth gallery exhibition and a new NFT project, while building his two other businesses, HONEY BONES Gallery, Melbourne and a hand painted advertising agency Wall Lords.
Featured image: JESWRI standing in front of his work, 2022. photo: Jack Gruber.