Bio

Gemma Thompson is a visual artist and musician whose practice finds a unique dialogue between poetic form and soundscape. Working across drawing, print, and sound, she explores and records sonic experience of place. Originally from London, she is now based in Pōneke, New Zealand.

Thompson studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London, graduating in 2008, before pursuing a career as a professional musician and composer. In 2011, she became a founding member of the critically acclaimed band Savages, writing two Mercury Prize-nominated albums and touring internationally.

In 2018, she was awarded a scholarship to attend the Royal Drawing School’s Drawing Year, focusing on observational drawing. In 2021, she completed an MA in Fine Art Printmaking at UAL Camberwell College of Arts, where she developed a body of work centred on experimental graphic scores. Thompson was awarded the Working Drawing Award as part of the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022. Her work is held in several private and public collections, including those of Sir Michael Moritz KBE, M&C Saatchi, and The Royal Collection.