Jasmine Skutela - Biography

“My work explores the tension between the illusion of control – and the anxiety I experience in crowds. As a painter, I focus on depicting mass movements of people from one destination to another, emphasizing the unease I feel when walking among them or observing them. I often experience profound anxiety about making eye contact, fearing mutual acknowledgement. The awareness of each person’s struggles, joys, and aspirations is overwhelming, especially considering the world’s 8 billion people. In enclosed spaces like rooms or stadiums, I see the crowd as a unified ‘hive mind’ entity, but outdoors, individuality and disparateness become strikingly apparent as people head in different directions with their own agendas. By deliberately omitting details of individuals my paintings attempt to capture the unsettling physical presence of the crowd. Through painting I explore the clash of needing and loving human connection whilst simultaneously trying not to drown in the currents of a moving crowd.”

Jasmine Skutela | February 2025