Emily McGhie Jackson

A Scottish artist exploring atmosphere and our perception of space, Emily McGhie Jackson blends the line between realities. Taking inspiration from the Scottish landscape and the scripted spaces seen in architecture and video games. Jackson employs exaggerated colour palettes and unconventional viewpoints. Using the immersion of painting to replicate the feeling of mentally occupying one space, whilst physically occupying another.

Believing our emotional state informs our perception of environment, she uses an introspective painting process to create scenes referencing her day-to-day life. These often document her relationship to fantasy in videogames, fairytales, and dreams. Each painting captures a reflective moment, creating a space for contemplation.

Looking at the 2D planes in both technology and painting, Jackson looks to false spaces to investigate what it means to be in-between. Typically looking at the digital space and its relationship to the screen, Jackson employs limited colour palettes, reflecting the way the brightness of a screen homogenises its display. Within each painting, illuminating focal points imitate the effect artificial light has on our natural landscape. This is also reflected in the artist’s layering of acrylic upon wooden board. With the paintings protruding off the wall, inviting the audience into a space which cannot be entered.

(b.2004) Emily studied a BA (Hons) for Fine Art: Painting, at Camberwell College of Arts (UAL). She is the winner of the Big Walls and Windows Project in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Scottish Portrait Awards. She has showcased her work both in London and across Scotland, with her first Solo Show ‘Thinking Space’, being held in Dundee in 2024.

This year she has been on residency with Generator Projects (Dundee) in Zakynthos, Greece.

She is currently based at OuterSpaces Dundee.