CV + Contact

BIOGRAPHY

BORN 1987 IN BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK. BASED IN LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK CITY.

Jonathan David Smyth, also known as Julian Scott, explores various media including photography, performance, moving image, sculpture, and installation. His work has garnered international recognition, having been exhibited and screened at prestigious venues worldwide, such as Free Range in London, UK; PH21 Gallery in Budapest, Hungary; Auckland Festival of Photography in New Zealand; Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival in Xiamen, China; LAST Projects in Los Angeles, CA; Photoville in Brooklyn, NY; The Ulster Museum in Belfast, UK; Metro Pictures Gallery in New York City; and the FotoFest 2022 Biennial, If I Had A Hammer in Houston, TX.

Smyth's art is held in both public and private collections and has been featured in numerous esteemed art publications, including Apartamento, Aint-Bad, Float Photo Magazine, and Musée Magazine. Additionally, his work has been referenced in various books such as Michelle Dunn Marsh's Seeing Being Seen: A Personal History of Photography and the forthcoming Michael Petry release, Mirror: Mirror. Smyth has also been a guest on Good Morning, Sodomites! with comedian Zach Noe Towers and BBC Radio Ulster's The Arts Show.

Smyth holds a BA with Honours in photography and film from Edinburgh Napier University in 2010 and an MFA in photography from Parsons School of Design in 2014. He has served as a Visiting Artist and Instructor at prestigious institutions, including Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA, International Center of Photography in New York, and at his alma mater, Parsons School of Design in New York. Currently, Smyth has published two monographs with bd-studios.com (New York City): Just One More in 2017 and Now That You've Gone and Come Back in 2023, the latter released in tandem with his Artist-in-Residency at the Tom of Finland Foundation in Los Angeles. His third monograph is scheduled for release in 2024.

Jonathan can be reached at: info@jonathandavidsmyth.com

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ARTIST STATEMENT

I’VE SPENT YEARS OBSESSIVELY WRITING, RECORDING, AND DOCUMENTING MY LIFE.

As an adopted child in Northern Ireland, I was only too aware of the differences between my family and my friends at school. For years, I wasn’t allowed to talk about my adoption, and it made me feel angry and ashamed. I came out as gay at fourteen. I moved out of my parents’ house at sixteen. I then began to be honest through photography in the hope that other people might relate to my story, too. I am no longer ashamed, but I use the memory of feeling inadequate and out-of-place as a starting point for my artwork.

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