Jasper Smithers

I am a multi-disciplinary artist, and freelance illustrator and designer specialising in arts education, book arts, stop-frame animation, model making, and graphic design. I am a part-time lecturer on the BA Illustration course at the University of Portsmouth in the School of Architecture, Art and Design. I run my small-press publishing platform, Micro Library Books, exhibiting at illustration fairs in the UK and internationally, and since 2001 I have co-run an arts education partnership, Borbonesa, founded with fellow artists. The arts education projects I work on often focus on wellbeing and community, such as Stories in Transit, which aims to establish the right of displaced individuals to cultural expression.

I am Cultural Heritage Strategy Lead for the South Downs National Park Authority, working to ensure the ongoing conservation, enhancement and understanding of the heritage of this protected landscape, through collaboration with archaeologists and artists, museums and environmental charities. I am a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and a, currently a member of the Arts Council England UK Museum Accreditation Committee and sit on the National Lottery Heritage Fund London & South Committee. My work with the National Park focuses on strategy, partnership and relationships, supporting organisations and networks with project development.

I am an award-winning visual artist using moving image to create video art and installations, often incorporating multidisciplinary, site-specific and live artworks. The main focus of my work is how art and technology can be used to explore the embodiment of space by the self and other, while challenging notions of absence and presence, real and simulated, and live versus mediated experience. I use specialised equipment and innovative filmmaking techniques to engage audiences, allowing them to bring their own sense of self and experiences to the artworks.