Nomas* Projects / Art, Dundee

Who We Are

ARTIST'S TALK (online via Zoom):

Sunday 19 April 2026. 4.00pm to 5:30pm

Zoom Link: bit.ly/j-nelson

Jason Nelson is an artist and educator living and working in Dundee. Graduating in 1997 from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design with an undergraduate degree in Fine art and then attaining an MSc in Electronic imaging from the same institution in 2007.

For the past 20 years the term that would best describe Nelson’s practice would be ‘participatory’. Often working directly within communities exploring notions of culture, co-production, collective ownership and stewardship. He is interested in how activity can empower and enable expression and action. This expression has manifested in many forms and ranged from engagement with local authority, permanent sculptural interventions to live events and activities. His work is often a response to context and exists as a result of direct engagement with people, their environments and their relationship to it. Regardless of the scale of project the underpinning concepts that drive his work are notions of learning, social structure and ideas of identity, community and ownership.

Drawing has always played a fundamental role in Nelson’s practice, but this work represents a much more personal engagement with the act of drawing and the subject matter. ‘Who We Are’ is an intimate glimpse into moments spent with the artist and his parents. Between March and November 2025, while caring for his parents, Nelson began to draw his mother and father, documenting elements of their shared everyday interactions. The act of looking and drawing in the midst of caring for his vulnerable parents became a conscious act of acknowledging the present, of slowing down and seeing what was in front of you both literally and metaphorically. On show are some examples of these quick sketchbook drawings that were unknowingly documenting the last few months he had with his parents.

Artist's Website jasonnelson.co.uk