Jon Rees is a multidisciplinary artist working across photography and mural painting, with training from Central Saint Martins.
His work explores the connection between art, mental health, and community, often drawing on lived experience with mental health conditions and neurodivergence. As a member of Kindred Studios, Jon uses art, particularly photography, as a tool for healing, self-expression, and connection. His participatory projects often centre storytelling, intergenerational dialogue, and the potential for art to inspire personal and social change.
This summer, Jon joins ACAVA’s Flourish programme for the first time, leading Adventures in Photography at Barham Park Studios in Wembley. His sessions invite families to explore photography as a way of seeing, sharing, and documenting their world.
In this Q&A, Jon shares more about his practice, what motivates his work, and the social issues close to his heart. This interview is part of a series featuring artists from ACAVA’s studio and community network.
What Flourish programmes have you worked on recently and what did you do?
I am about to start my first Flourish programme – Adventures in Photography.
What interests you about being a Flourish facilitator and/or has it influenced your practice, or your way of thinking about art?
It’s the intergenerational working, working with families. I have previously attended Flourish programmes with my children and had a really positive experience with them.
What kind of work do you create, and what drives you to make it?
Photography and murals mostly, but I work across other mediums too. My life experiences drive my work. I like to combine the political and poetic.
What themes or questions are central to your work right now?
Identity, memory, class, spirituality and fear.
What materials do you work with most often, and why?
Digital photography because it’s free, and spray painting because it’s fun.
Do you collaborate with others in your work? If so, how do those relationships shape your process?
Yes, I always learn from collaborations and emerge as a different artist.
Who or what are your biggest influences – artists, writers, movements, people?
Bruce Davidson, Saul Leiter, Subway graffiti of New York in the 1980s, films by David Lynch, lyrics by The Smiths.
What does a typical day in your studio look like (if there is one!)?
There are no typical days, which is exactly how I like it.
How has your practice changed over time?
I think the community has become more and more central to my work over time.
Did you study art formally? If so, what did you take from that experience?
Yes, as a mature student at Central Saint Martins in my late 30s. Before that, I couldn’t even call myself an artist. As someone from a working-class background, that didn’t feel possible. It gave me belief in myself.
If you’re self-taught, how did you build your knowledge and skills?
Before art school, I just made stuff out of necessity.
What advice would you give to someone just starting their artistic journey?
Forget the market, make the work that you are inspired to make and keep doing it. Trust that the money will appear (easier said than done, I know).
What’s the best (or worst!) advice you’ve ever been given as an artist?
Best – Go to art school, it will change your life.
Worst – stop making work that is so literal / stop making work that’s too ambiguous, by two different tutors on the same day.
How has creativity impacted your life beyond the studio?
It’s like food and air, I can’t live without it.
What has having a dedicated studio space (like at ACAVA) meant for your work?
I moved into Kindred Studios four years ago, and it has completely transformed my life. It’s the best thing that’s ever happened for my career.
What does ‘socially engaged practice’ mean to you, and how do you approach it?
It means incorporating the everyday experiences, achievements and struggles of the people in my community into the projects I run.
What’s a dream project or collaboration you’d love to do?
Too many to mention, but I’d love to work with neurodivergent people who are leaving prison for the first time and trying to help them channel energy into creativity rather than re-offending. I’d love to do more projects supporting people to process grief. I’d love to create an intergenerational mural project celebrating the everyday history of people in my community. I’d love to work with kids at risk of getting involved in postcode violence. I have Romany heritage and I’d love to work with traveller communities exploring identity.
Complete the sentence “Art is…”
a painkiller.
“I feel most creative…”
when I give myself permission to play.
Do you have any upcoming projects or exhibitions you’d like us to platform?
I am working on a year-long project called Grieffiti with young people who have lost a sibling or parent, helping them to process their grief through graffiti art. A mural and exhibition are planned for October.
