"Art, for me, is not wanting to know what the artist experienced while creating it. I want my audience to be active participants and not passive observers in the meaning of my works."
Jasmine Jagger is a painter, sculptor and ceramic artist born in Johannesburg in 1985, and currently based in Cape Town. Jagger's art career started in 2015, with no formal training. Strongly influenced as a child by her sketch-artist grandmother, Jagger's return to painting in 2019 placed her back in touch with the power to defuse painful memories using playful colours and textures; she is compelled to create art using striking colours and loud imagery for the sake of losing herself in an intense desire for comfort and solace, in what she can only describe as an "organic, cathartic experience".
Jagger focusses on reading between the lines within her daily life, be it past and present encounters she has with friends and family, and very rarely, strangers. In learning how to let go of barriers, the artist is able to tap into a wealth of personal imagery, motivated by thoughts and experiences, finding influence in the intricacies of daily life. Jagger's distinctive and personal style is reflected in her use of contrasting colours and bold compositions; imagery that pays homage to the conscious and subconscious thought of the human mind.
