Suburban Stories

Michael Reid Northern Beaches are delighted to present our first solo exhibition from Boorloo/Perth-based contemporary painter and former National Emerging Art Prize finalist Jasmine Raisbeck, whose warmly nostalgic and evocative series, Suburban Stories.

“This series explores fleeting, tender moments from suburban Australian life – children running through the sprinkler, a dad and daughter at the bowls club, a girl waiting for her paddle pool to fill,” says Raisbeck, who, in addition to her NEAP nod, has been a finalist in many other major awards, including the Naked and Nude Art Prize. “These quiet scenes, drawn from old and new photographic references, are part of an ongoing investigation into how we connect with the past and the people who shaped us.”

The deeply human approach to visual storytelling that feels evident in Raisbeck’s bright, snapshot-like scenes is one she connects with her previous career in journalism – years spent interviewing Australians from all walks of life and telling their stories. Her journalistic eye, empathy and narrative sense are now channelled into images at once nuanced and idiosyncratic, yet somehow universally resonant in their wistful call-back to slow, hot, halcyon days in the suburban backyard. “I’m interested in the emotional weight of ordinary moments and the way a certain light, gesture or expression can trigger deep nostalgia,” says the artist. “I play with heightened contrast and colour to amplify mood and create space for the viewer to see their own story.”

Raisbeck describes Suburban Stories as a reflection on the beauty of everyday life, the joy of childhood, and the subtle complexity of family relationships. “The series invites viewers to reflect on their own histories,” she says, “the summers of their youth, the people who raised them and the rituals that shaped their sense of place.”