Jessie Brennan

Jessie Brennan has constructed a 5metre long pencil drawing inspired by the Cut and the local stories and memories that originate along the canal.

Taking the geographically and socially cut off ‘island’ of Hackney Wick (by railway, road and water) as a starting point, Jessie’s work explores the social history of the canal, developing imagery that reflects the collective memory of the Cut as a place without the usual rules, and described by some local communities as ‘another world’.

Artist bio

Jessie Brennan is primarily engaged in the practice of drawing. Her works explore ways of recording, preserving and inventing possible narratives. Most recently her work responds to a particular location or situation. A meticulous drawing process is employed to construct real and imagined scenarios, in which miniature figures populate a grey, hybrid world (somewhere between still life and landscape). Through observing and inventing she attempts to reconstruct forgotten (his)stories and question the representation of place. Currently a visiting university lecturer, Jessie Brennan has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, nationally and internationally.