Lesley-Jo Thompson
Artist in Plymouth, UK
Lesley-Jo Thompson moved with her family from Southampton to Teignmouth in 2000, whilst expecting her fourth child, and it is here she has lived and worked ever since. In 2009 after 20 years of bringing up her family, she decided to fulfill a promise to herself to go back into education, and study towards a career in creative industry. As she had spent many years painting and selling her work within Devon and voluntarily working on the board of the Devon Artist Network, she felt ready to take the next step. After being accepted into Plymouth College of Art on the extended degree course, Lesley-Jo was introduced to photography, where it very soon became apparent she had a natural flair for the subject.
When undertaking a project, Lesley-Jo tries to establish a narrative, which will ultimately set the scene and interpret the true essence of her given subject. The idea that she is painting with light, the ability to record movement, either in an instant or over a few seconds, reveals transition as a recurring theme within her work. When creating she is aware of the significance that each image taken is a record of a specific moment, be it an archive of an event or a purposefully constructed composition.
Narrative about places and people are a constant source of fascination to Lesley-Jo and continuously motivates her creative process; with intent to document and archive these individual stories for future generations, she hopes they will be an informed and empathetic look at the world through her vision.
In her latest project she looks at the term ‘English Rose’ and what this expression truly means in todays society. Over the last century how has this image of the true English beauty changed? What happens when this beauty grows through the ages? What stages of life are now different, such as career, having a family, longer life expectancy and changes in the cultural diversity of modern day society? This project aims to explore these questions through the use of portraiture, pulling on influences from the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and their love of femininity and nature and photographers Tom Hunter and Spencer Murphy.
It is Lesley-Jo’s desire after her degree to continue working in the creative industry and carry on her love of crafting imagery and interpreting stories for years to come.