Jo Lawrence’s stop motion films use animated puppets, objects and mixed media. Films frequently refer to themes of transformation, from death to genetics to fashion, and anything that offers the potential of a dark and humorous sense of the uncanny. Photographic faces are frequently used as they create a satisfying tension between the ‘real’ and imagined world.

Originally a freelance illustrator Jo’s work became increasingly three dimensional, until she was making semi-articulated puppet figures which were exhibited in galleries internationally. Animating the figures next seemed a natural step and Jo
studied an MA in Animation at Kingston University.

Jo’s film Glow for Channel 4 was based on the Radium Girls and developed during a residency at the National Media Museum. Her residency in 2008 at the Victoria and Albert Museum as Digital Media artist resulted in the film Glover, which incorporated masks, pixellation and animated glove creatures.

Her films have been screened widely at international animation festivals and both Glow and Glover were nominated for inclusion in the finals of the British Animation Awards.

Pavementopera was commissioned for Tate Britain in 2009 and Jo has just completed Barnet Fair - an animation commission for the National Media Museum. Ylem is her ninth animation.

Ylem, 2012
Barnet Fair, 2012
Glover, 2010
Square Peg, 2010
Pavementopera, 2009
Glow, 2007
Zeuxis, 2003
0800, 2002
Red Thread, 2001

New Media Arts Prize, Screengrab 2012, James Cook University, Australia