Who is Jessica Wilson?
I’m a mother, partner and professional artist. A maverick solo maker who started out creating huge spectacle theatre on cliff faces, shifted to making shows with their audiences on board buses, and now I create participative art with children and their adults. I take my ideas all over the world and adapt them to different places with the input of local people.
I’m heading to the USA and the UK this year with a concept that sees kids use a parent’s face as the canvas for a crazy assemblage and photo-portrait. I grew up on a massive, isolated cattle station, and this has made me who I am – a bit of a country person who couldn’t live without the ideas that swirl around big cities like Melbourne.
What would you do differently from what you do now?
I would partner up earlier so I could have more kids. And I would also be heaps kinder to myself.
Who inspires you and why?
I’m inspired by the idea of animism right now – that the world is so alive and buzzing around us. I think that if we could get beyond our fixed notions of the hierarchy of things, our world would be on a pathway to repair.
What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I wish our environment wasn’t designed for cars. My pet frustration is that we are surrounded by idling vehicles. I think that walking and riding are powerful acts that lead to noticing your surroundings and connecting more with the places and the people around you. If I could magic the cars to the periphery of our city, connected by a system of electric trams, I would do it.
Favourite holiday destination and why?
Right at the moment, I love Yunbenun (Magnetic Island). I grew up in Queensland and I love places where the bush meets the sea. It’s such an undeveloped place with a very slow pace. Holidaying there makes you feel like you are back in your childhood days. The landscape is so prominent and it’s impossible to ignore its influenced when you spend time there.
Last year I married my partner of 18 years overlooking Arcadia Beach, joined by a big group of friends mostly with their families who all stayed for a week or so. It was a rambling ten-day wedding that revolved around shared food, long conversations and walks in wild places.
When friends come to town, what attraction would you take them to, and why?
Our home backs onto a park so we love having friends join us at home. We cook up lots of food, hang out outside and the kids run around the park with torches. I also like taking friends for a dip at Pound Bend at Warrandyte or Blue Lake, and for a drink and a film at Thornbury Picture House on High St.
What are you currently reading?
I’m reading Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
What are you currently listening to?
My daughter’s playlists featuring lots of Mother Mother.
Happiness is?
Feeling you are part of a community who understands what makes you tick. Oh… and also drinking cold prosecco by the water on a warm evening.
What does the future hold for you?
The thing I look forward to the most is watching my daughter grow into an adult. Then on the work front, I have huge visions for creating digital experiences that speak in new ways to children to connect them more with their surroundings.
Jessica has teamed with artist Gijong Yoo to develop Shadows in Twin Cities – a project where children engage with each other through play and conversation across hemispheres – which will be presented at ArtPlay, as part of Asia TOPA, from 20 February – 10 March 2025. For more information, visit: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au for details.
Image: Jessica Wilson – photo by Darren Gill