Jo Dennis (b. 1973) addresses themes related to home, shelter, memory and mortality, based on research involving the collection and documentation of places and objects which have been left to waste. Her repurposed media activates artistic concepts which address an emotional connection to places, the transformation of surfaces and objects and how this relates to temporality. She speaks of ‘how a sense of belonging is realised in connection to places of ruination and dereliction’.

A great part of her focus is on the role paint plays in these spaces and processes, and then how this surface materiality and texture conveys the passing of time. Using colour and gesture as a mode to express emotion and lived experience, the remnants and residual materials in the paint amplify the resonance of feeling embodied in the physicality of the forgotten. Utilising discarded military tents as her primary material, Jo employs a distinctive painting process to create works that are both visually striking and conceptually profound.