Jasper Goodall

Dark Flora #8, Skeletons of the Summer, 2021

2021

Born in Birmingham in 1973, Jasper Goodall studied at the University of Brighton, graduating in 1995 from the BA Illustration course. He went on to become a highly influential illustrator and has worked with high profile clients from fashion brands to rock bands. Widely published and much referenced, he was best known for his editorials in The Face Magazine, Dazed & Confused and his creation of ethereal imagery for the English rock band Muse. He has had joint and solo shows in Tokyo, Hamburg and London. In 2014 he left the world of commercial image making and spent several years training as a counsellor at the Psychosynthesis Trust in London. This hiatus provided the opportunity to take stock and re-imagine his creative output in a new and very different form, and he began using a camera to make images. He has returned to a creative practice with a radically different body of work, using photography as a means of expression. Drawing on historical references, from Victorian taxidermy dioramas to romantic painting he seeks to articulate the hushed, waiting presence that is palpably felt between the dark boughs of a forest at night. "Through photography I seek to invoke reverence for the natural world. Using artificial lighting I depict the nocturnal landscape referencing the enchanted settings used in fairytales where the dark forest is understood as a metaphor for the unconscious. These mysterious realms, although threatening, contain the potential for discovering riches if we can move past fear. I hope that my images evoke a sense of the landscape containing magic, for if we can begin to relate to the natural world not as a resource to plunder, but an entity to come to know, love and revere, we may rekindle a much needed sacred relationship." - Jasper Goodall