Jessica Holmes was born in Hampshire and now lives and works in London, UK. She studied at Wimbledon School of Art (1998–2002), followed by the Royal Academy Schools (2003–2006), where she was awarded the Landseer Prize in her final year.
Exhibitions and Curatorial Work
Holmes has exhibited extensively in the UK and internationally, including in the USA, South Korea, France, and Greece. Recent exhibitions include Works On Paper 2025 at The Gallery at Green and Stone, and About Time at Swanfall Gallery in 2024. In 2023, she held a solo exhibition titled Eternal Verdure at West Downs Gallery, Winchester.
In addition to her painting practice, she has co-curated exhibitions at notable venues such as Imperial College, Transition Gallery, and the Royal Automobile Club in London. Her work is part of several private collections, including the El-Khazinder and Moehlmann collections.
Artistic Practice and Research
Holmes’ work exists at the intersection of past and present, deepening the viewer's experience of place through layered historical references. Her subjects are often sites in decline, abandoned buildings, forgotten gardens, or locations that have vanished and must be reconstructed through archival research and historical traces.
Her practice merges archival materials with the physical and imagined histories of these places. She uses documents and remnants not as factual records but as narrative catalysts, props that enable a reflection on memory, interpretation, and the emotional resonance of place. The aim is to capture those moments when a location was most closely linked to human consciousness, and to explore its arc through time, from presence to decay.