Jo Knowles is a working artist based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. She graduated from the Leeds Metropolitan University in 1993 with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, and since that time has been actively engaged in many projects bringing art to the community, and in particular using art to reach out to the disadvantaged members of society to assist in their re-habilitation.

Jo's own art work is at times hard hitting, and at others reflective of the beauty of nature unspoilt by mankind. It underlines her philosophy that much of modern life and the technologies that support it are in fact fundamentally detrimental to the planet and all life forms that live on it.

“My recent work further explores the modern urban landscapes we inhabit, where the increasing concrete desertification and domination over nature is most evident. It examines the isolation of the human species from other forms of life as we exist in our sterile boxes, containing and controlling nature to appropriate our demanding needs. It attempts to question the irreversible impact that our daily activities have on the earth, by drawing together on the one hand intricate images celebrating the diversity of life and harsh, uncompromising reproductions of our modern world.
My work ranges in form from paintings, drawings and collage; to assemblages constructed from found objects and recycled items. Through the combination of modern media (photography, photocopy etc.) and more traditional, natural materials, it describes the dichotomy of our apparent distance from nature – and yet our dependence on it.”

Jo has displayed her art in a number of exhibitions, principally around West Yorkshire and is now using the Internet to bring her work to a wider audience.