Interview: Jane Smith on Urban Expression

Easy Junction: You began your career in traditional gallery settings before moving into street art. What prompted that transition?

Jane Smith: I'd always felt constrained by the white cube gallery model—not just physically, but also in terms of who gets to experience the work. I was creating these pieces about community and urban experience, but they were only being seen by a relatively privileged audience. There was a disconnect there that started to feel increasingly problematic.

The shift happened organically when I was invited to participate in a street art festival in Bristol in 2016. The experience of working at that scale, in dialogue with the city itself, completely transformed my practice. Suddenly, my audience included everyone who passed by—people from all walks of life who might never set foot in a gallery. That democratic aspect of public art is what really hooked me.

Easy Junction: Was there resistance from the traditional art world when you made that shift?

Jane Smith: Absolutely, and from multiple directions. Some gallery representatives and collectors saw street art as a step down—still tainted by associations with vandalism despite the work of pioneers like Banksy who had already challenged those perceptions. At the same time, some within the street art community viewed me with suspicion as someone coming from the "inside" of an institutional art world they defined themselves against.

Navigating those tensions was tricky, but ultimately I think it strengthened my work. I'm interested in threshold spaces—the in-between zones where different worlds meet—and my practice now exists at the intersection of those traditionally separated contexts. I still do gallery shows, but they're in conversation with my public work rather than separate from it.

Easy Junction: Your work often involves extensive research and community engagement. Could you talk about how you approach a new site-specific project?

Jane Smith: I think of my process as archaeological in a way—excavating the layers of history, memory, and meaning embedded in a place. Before I even sketch a design, I spend time walking the area, photographing architectural details, observing how people move through and use the space. I research local history and talk to community members about their experiences and relationships with the site.

For my recent project in Manchester, I spent three months conducting interviews with longtime residents about the neighborhood's industrial past and subsequent transformation. Those stories directly informed the imagery and color palette of the final piece. I'm interested in creating work that resonates with the specific context rather than imposing something from outside.

Easy Junction: You often collaborate with architects, urban planners, and community organizations. How do those collaborations influence your creative process?

Jane Smith: Collaboration has become central to my practice. I'm fascinated by the dialogue between art and architecture—how visual intervention can transform our experience of built environments. Working with architects helps me understand the structural and spatial dimensions of a site in ways that enhance the integration of my work with its surroundings.

As for community organizations, they provide crucial bridges to local knowledge networks. They help facilitate conversations that might not happen otherwise and ensure the work responds to community needs and aspirations. I see my role not as the sole author of a vision but as a catalyst and translator—helping communities articulate visual expressions of their own identities and concerns.

The most successful projects emerge from genuine exchange rather than a predetermined concept. I come with certain aesthetic sensibilities and technical skills, but the content and meaning evolve through dialogue. That collaborative aspect keeps the work grounded and relevant.

Easy Junction: Street art has gone from countercultural practice to mainstream acceptance, with cities now actively commissioning public art. How do you navigate the politics of that shift?

Jane Smith: It's a complex terrain, for sure. The institutionalization of street art creates opportunities but also risks neutralizing its critical edge. When your work is officially sanctioned and funded by the same power structures it might seek to critique, there's an inherent tension there.

I try to maintain a certain creative autonomy even within commissioned projects. My contracts always include clauses protecting artistic freedom, and I'm selective about which projects I take on. I've turned down commissions that felt like artwashing—using public art to give a progressive veneer to problematic development schemes without addressing underlying issues.

That said, I don't romanticize the purely unauthorized, guerrilla approach either. Working within institutional frameworks allows for projects at a scale and permanence that can have lasting impact. The key is maintaining a critical awareness of those frameworks and pushing against their limitations.

Easy Junction: Your work often addresses gentrification and urban change. How do you ensure your art isn't contributing to the very processes you're critiquing?

Jane Smith: That's something I grapple with constantly. There's no denying that street art has been weaponized in gentrification processes—used to increase property values and market "edgy" neighborhoods to new demographics while pushing out existing communities. Artists can easily become unwitting advance troops in that process.

I try to address this in several ways. First, by being intentional about where I work and who I work with. I prioritize projects initiated by community organizations rather than developers or brands. Second, by ensuring my work engages with the specific social and political realities of a place rather than just providing decorative embellishment. And third, by building ongoing relationships rather than parachuting in for one-off interventions.

When I worked in Brixton, for example, the mural explicitly addressed the neighborhood's history of resistance to displacement, featuring portraits of local housing activists alongside archival imagery from previous community struggles. The project included workshops with local youth about the politics of urban space and their right to the city. Those educational components are as important to me as the physical artwork.

Easy Junction: Your visual language has evolved significantly over the years. How would you describe your current aesthetic approach?

Jane Smith: I think of my current work as a kind of "social abstraction." I'm using non-representational forms—geometric patterns, color fields, abstract symbols—but they're derived from social research and embedded with specific references to place and community.

For example, the interlocking circular patterns in my recent works are based on mapping social networks and community connections in specific neighborhoods. The color palettes often reference both natural elements of a place—its geology, flora, quality of light—and cultural aspects like traditional textiles or architectural details.

I'm interested in creating work that operates on multiple levels simultaneously: visually striking from a distance but revealing layers of meaning and reference as you engage with it more closely. Abstraction allows for that kind of open-endedness while still being grounded in specific contexts.

Easy Junction: You've recently begun incorporating digital and interactive elements into your murals. What prompted that expansion?

Jane Smith: I've always been interested in how static images can suggest movement and transformation. The shift toward digital elements feels like a natural evolution of that interest—allowing the work to literally change over time and respond to different inputs.

My piece in Berlin uses augmented reality to reveal historical imagery when viewed through a smartphone app, creating a layered experience that connects present and past. In Rotterdam, I worked with programmers to create a mural that changes color based on local air quality data, making visible something that affects community health but is often invisible.

These technological elements aren't gimmicks—they're extending the conceptual framework of the work. I'm interested in how digital tools can enhance the connective and communicative potential of public art while still maintaining the physical, embodied experience of encountering a work in urban space.

Easy Junction: What's next for you? Are there new directions you're eager to explore?

Jane Smith: I'm increasingly interested in more permanent interventions at the intersection of art, architecture, and landscape design. I've been collaborating with architects on projects that integrate artistic elements from the beginning rather than adding them as an afterthought.

I'm also exploring work that directly addresses climate change and environmental justice. My next major project will focus on visualizing water systems in urban environments—making visible the hidden infrastructure that sustains city life and highlighting issues of access and equity.

On a broader level, I'm thinking about how public art can move beyond beautification or commentary to become more directly generative—creating platforms for community organizing, skill-sharing, and collective imagination. Public art at its best creates moments of collective imagination—opportunities to envision alternative futures for our shared spaces.