CV + Contact
BIOGRAPHY
BORN 1987 IN BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND. BASED IN LOS ANGELES AND NEW YORK CITY.
Jonathan
David Smyth (AKA Julian Scott) is an artist working with
photography, performance, moving image, sculpture, and installation. His work has been exhibited at various
galleries, museums, venues, and festivals in the United States and abroad,
including Free Range (London, UK),
PH21 Gallery (Budapest, Hungary), Auckland
Festival of Photography (New Zealand),
Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival (Xiamen, China), LAST Projects
(Los Angeles, CA), Photoville (Brooklyn, NY), Photographic Center Northwest (Seattle, WA), The Ulster Museum
(Belfast, UK), Metro Pictures Gallery (New York City), and the FotoFest
Biennial 2022 central exhibition, If I Had a Hammer (Houston, TX). Smyth’s work is held in private and public
collections and has been featured in numerous print and online publications
including, Aint-Bad magazine, Float Photo magazine, and Musée magazine. He has been a featured guest on The Arts Show on BBC Radio Ulster and
appeared on many popular podcasts including MikeyPodwith artist Michael Harren, and Good Morning, Sodomites! with comedian
Zach Noe Towers.
Smyth received a BA with Honours in photography and film at Edinburgh Napier University in 2010, and an MFA in photography from Parsons School of Design in 2014. His debut monograph titled Just One More was published by bd-studios.com (New York City) in October 2017. He has given various presentations and talks as a Visiting Artist and as an Instructor in New York City at The New School, The International Center of Photography, The School of Visual Arts, The New York Public Library, and at Belfast Metropolitan College in Northern Ireland, and Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA. His second monograph is expected in 2023.
Jonathan/Julian can be reached at info@jonathandavidsmyth.com
Follow him on social media: ︎ ︎
Smyth received a BA with Honours in photography and film at Edinburgh Napier University in 2010, and an MFA in photography from Parsons School of Design in 2014. His debut monograph titled Just One More was published by bd-studios.com (New York City) in October 2017. He has given various presentations and talks as a Visiting Artist and as an Instructor in New York City at The New School, The International Center of Photography, The School of Visual Arts, The New York Public Library, and at Belfast Metropolitan College in Northern Ireland, and Photographic Center Northwest in Seattle, WA. His second monograph is expected in 2023.
Jonathan/Julian can be reached at info@jonathandavidsmyth.com
Follow him on social media: ︎ ︎
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.
Download Artist CV (PDF)
EXTERNAL LINKS
FEATURED ARTWORK + CONTRIBUTING PIECES + CURATORIAL WORK.
- River to River Festival 2019, LMCC - participating artist
- Jason Boeckli: Farewell to New York - participating artist
- Royal Ulster Academy of Arts - featured artist
- Inspirational 30 Magazine - featured artist
- The Art of Being Queer - featured artist
- Float Photo Magazine: Book Library - featured artist
- Aint-Bad Magazine: Articles - featured artist, June 2018
- Visual AIDS: 20th Annual Postcards from The Edge - participating artist
- MikeyPod: Episode 245 - featured artist
- Aint-Bad Magazine: Articles - featured artist, Dec 2017
- The Passporte Gallery: Family - featured artist
- Float Magazine: As You Were - curator
- Filmideo 2017 - featured artist
- Float Photo Magazine: Space - featured artist
- Float Photo Magazine: Portfolios - featured artist
- Visual AIDS: 19th Annual Postcards from The Edge - participating artist
- L.A. Photo Curator: Hometown - honourable mention
- PH21 Gallery: Portraiture - featured artist
- Float Photo Magazine: Failure - featured artist
- Openings Collective: Beauty - featured artist
- participating artist
- Float Photo Magazine: LOVE - featured artist
- Vinyl Depford: Vitaphone No More! - featured artist
- PhotoFeast: Artist Talks - featured artist
- #IRL: In Real Life - featured artist
- Old Truman Brewery: Free Range 2010 - featured artist
- Source: Graduate Photography Online 2010 - featured artist