Held in Place

In July, Melbourne/Naarm-based painter Brittany Jones will present her first exhibition with Michael Reid Southern Highlands, Held in Place.

Jones’ modest subjects—measuring tapes, glassware, ceramic vessels and domestic implements—are drawn from the familiar world of the home and studio. Through meticulous observation, she reveals their often overlooked beauty and formal complexity.

While grounded in the traditions of still life painting, the works that comprise Held in Place also function as a form of surrogate portraiture. Jones, who was recognised as a finalist in the 2025 Archibald Prize, approaches her subjects with the same attentiveness she brings to the human figure. The objects she depicts bear the imprint of lives lived around them—the traces of touch, habit and ritual. They become stand-ins for their owners, suggesting lives beyond the frame.

At the heart of the exhibition is Jones’ remarkable sensitivity to the material world. Glass catches and disperses light with convincing luminosity; ceramics reveal subtle irregularities that speak to their handmade origins; a poppy stem is rendered with such precision that even the fine hairs lining its surface remain visible. Particularly compelling are her leadlight windows, where rippled panes fracture and distort the view beyond. Such passages speak to the precision of her painterly language.

Jones’ work has been recognised in a number of significant Australian art prizes, including the Portia Geach Memorial Award and STILL: National Still Life Award, where she received a Judges’ Commendation in 2025. She has also been shortlisted for the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, ACB Selects (National Emerging Art Prize), the Lethbridge 20,000 Small Scale Art Award, the Small Works Art Prize and the Kilgour Art Prize, and was a semi-finalist in the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize.