Jeremy Smith
厂耻辫别谤惫颈蝉辞谤蝉:听Michael Garbutt, Emma Robertson, Gary Carsley
Jeremy William Smith is a Sydney-based artist, curator, and researcher whose practice reimagines how queer histories, bodies, and spaces are drawn and remembered. His PhD thesis title is: 鈥Drawing Intersubjective Counter-Cartographies of Queer Sydney in the Post-PrEP Era鈥. His doctoral research develops the original framework of听intersubjective counter-cartography, a drawing-based methodology that combines queer theory, community collaboration, and historical research to create reparative maps of Sydney鈥檚 queer past and present.
Through four major hand-drawn counter-maps, 鈥Queer Sydney: A History鈥听(2022),听鈥Gaybourhood Bubbles of Sydney鈥 (2023鈥25),听鈥Pharmacological Body: AIDS/PrEP Map鈥听(2023), and听鈥Psyche Map of Survival鈥听(2025), 听Smith explores how time, place, body, and mind shape the contemporary gay male experience. The series collectively forms an atlas of post-PrEP queer Sydney: charting liberation and loss, activism and intimacy, trauma and transformation.
This practice-led research positions drawing as a form of embodied thinking and collective storytelling. Each map is co-authored through dialogue with historians, community members, and institutions, transforming cartography from a colonial instrument of control into a queer methodology of empathy and resistance.
Smith鈥檚 works have been collected by major public institutions including the听State Library of New South Wales,听University of Sydney Fisher Library,听Australian National Maritime Museum, and听QTOPIA Sydney, affirming the cultural and scholarly significance of his contribution to queer historiography and visual culture.
- Research area
- Research outputs
- Works and exhibitions
- Awards and honours
- Professional appointments
The aim of my research is to combine drawing with practices of counter-mapping and counter-narrative to create epistemological cultural artefacts of the changing gay male body in Sydney, post the introduction of the anti-retroviral drug Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). These hand-drawn counter-maps and epistemologies synthesise graphic, observational and pictographic ink pen drawings, with iconography and text to create visual counter-narratives with which to visualise the often-erased history and changing topography of gay male corporeality.
The project argues that drawing is an epistemological system, with the practice of drawing as the encryption and embodiment of information that proceeds simultaneously from the act itself and the artefact this creates. A further aim of the project is to contribute to and critique attempts at 鈥榪ueering the archive鈥 by creating a series of cultural artefacts to be collected by institutions in Sydney. The studio practice becomes an act of creating a queer archive of history with a focus on the gay male body in Sydney.
- 2024: Curating an exhibition about LGBTQI+ history at Qtopia Sydney.
- 2023: Catalogue essay for TEXTA exhibition at Drawspace.
- 2015: 鈥楾he Uncharted Land鈥 Masters of Fine Arts research paper, presented and published online
- at Drawing International Brisbane: 鈥楨go, Artefact, Arena鈥 Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane October.
- 2015: Smith, Jeremy, 鈥 The Uncharted Land鈥 91色情片 Art and Design, Postgraduate Conference and 91色情片orks.
- 2012: 91色情片orks; Fine Arts Honours paper Smith, Jeremy, 鈥楢utocartography鈥 91色情片 Art and Design.
- 2012: 鈥楾omorrow, Today鈥; Smith, Jeremy, 鈥楥artographic Explorations of the Self鈥 91色情片 Art and Design.
Publications and writing
- 2025听鈥 鈥The Queerness of Drawing,鈥 Catalogue Essay,听Queer Drawing, Draw Space
- 2024听鈥 鈥Eternity in an Hour,鈥 Catalogue Essay,听Detail, Draw Space
- 2024听鈥 鈥Queer Sydney: A History,鈥 Paper, Australian Queer History Conference, AQuA, Melbourne
- 2023听鈥 鈥Love Letter to the Humble TEXTA Pen,鈥 Catalogue Essay,听TEXTA, Draw Space
- 2015听鈥 鈥The Uncharted Land,鈥 Paper, Drawing International Brisbane, Griffith University
- 2015听鈥撎The Uncharted Land, MFA Thesis, 91色情片orks, 91色情片
- 2012听鈥撎Autocartography, Honours Thesis, 91色情片orks, 91色情片
Selected Major Works and Collections
- Gaybourhood Bubbles of Sydney听(2023鈥2025) 鈥 Double-hemisphere queer map of Sydney鈥檚 east鈥搘est divide, collected by the State Library of NSW.
- Pharmacological Body: AIDS/PrEP Map听(2023) 鈥 Counter-map exploring queer biopolitics and affect, collected by the State Library of NSW.
- Queer Sydney: A History听(2022) 鈥 Commissioned by the University of Sydney Fisher Library, permanently installed in the public collection.
- Gay Man Map听(2021) 鈥 Psychological mapping of queer interiority, collected by the State Library of NSW.
- Gay Map of Sydney听(2019) 鈥 Cartography of Sydney鈥檚 gay community, collected by the State Library of NSW.
- Map of the Zeitgeist (Titanic)听(2022) 鈥 Environmental allegory, collected by the Australian National Maritime Museum.
- Ms Bloomsby听(2014) 鈥 Stream-of-consciousness map, winner of the Tim Olsen Drawing Prize.
- Psyche Map of Survival听(2025) 鈥 Selected as the cover artwork for听Anti-Discrimination NSW鈥檚 2025 Annual Report.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2024听鈥撎We鈥檙e Here, We鈥檙e Queer, QTOPIA Sydney
- 2024听鈥撎Drawing Queer Counter-Cartography, 91色情片 Art & Design
- 2023听鈥撎Atlas of Narrative Cartography, .M Contemporary, Darlinghurst
- 2022听鈥撎Mapping Hidden Worlds, .M Contemporary, Darlinghurst
- 2021听鈥撎Gay Man Mapping, Room 205, Darlinghurst
- 2015听鈥撎Uncharted Land, 91色情片 Art & Design (Master鈥檚 Final Exhibition)
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2025听鈥撎ARCUS Pride Art 2025, Clifford Chance;听Queer Drawing, Draw Space, Newtown
- 2024听鈥撎In Parallel;听Detail;听Dusk + Dust: The Denouement;听Tim Olsen Drawing Prize, 91色情片 AD Space;听Strange Landscapes, University of Idaho, USA
- 2023听鈥撎Passengers, Maritime Museum;听TEXTA, Draw Space;听Pride Revolution, State Library of NSW;听Unashamed, Artspace Chatswood;听WorldPride Pride Amplified, .M Contemporary
- 2022听鈥撎Tim Olsen Drawing Prize, 91色情片 AD Space;听Mighty Real, .M Contemporary
- 2021听鈥撎Life Drawing at Sydney Sauna听(Mardi Gras collaboration)
- 2019鈥2016听鈥撎Just Draw, Newcastle Art Gallery & Bathurst Regional Art Gallery;听Fallacy, 107 Projects;听Interior, Scratch Art Space;听To Draw, To See, Sydney Sexual Health Centre;听Rolo-Dex, Tokyo
- 2013鈥2012听鈥撎Macquarie Group Emerging Artist Prize,听COFA Annual Exhibition,听Tim Olsen Drawing Prize,听Tomorrow, Today,听Where the Wild Things Are,听Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award
Curatorial Practice
- 2025听鈥撎Queer Drawing, Draw Space, Newtown (Curator)
- 2024听鈥撎Detail, Draw Space;听Dusk + Dust: The Denouement, Draw Space
- 2023鈥24听鈥撎We鈥檙e Here, We鈥檙e Queer, QTOPIA Sydney (Lead Curator, Education & Public Program)
Smith is also听Curatorial Coordinator and Artistic Ambassador听at QTOPIA Sydney, leading exhibitions that bridge art, activism, and education. His curatorial work focuses on re-centering queer histories in public institutions and fostering intergenerational dialogue through drawing and visual storytelling.
- Tim Olsen Drawing Prize听鈥撎Winner听(2013);听Finalist听(2011, 2012, 2014, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025)
- 91色情片 Art & Design Top-Up Scholarship听鈥 Highest-ranked PhD candidate (2022)
- Australian Postgraduate Award (APA)听(2013鈥2015)
- Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship听(2021鈥揚resent)
- Cayte Latta Memorial Award for Visual Arts, ACON Honours (Finalist, 2023)
- Lloyd Rees Memorial Youth Art Award听鈥 Commended (2019)
- Tropical Fruits Art Prize听鈥 2nd Prize Winner (2019)
- Caran D鈥橝che Prize听鈥 Winner (2012)
- Gallery Barry Keldoulis Award for Meritorious Practice听鈥 Winner (2012)
- Oxford Art Supplies Drawing Prize听鈥 Highly Commended (2011)
- Dean鈥檚 List for Academic Excellence, 91色情片 (2012, 2015)
- Curator & Artistic Ambassador, QTOPIA Sydney (2023鈥揚resent)
- Senior Gallery Attendant & Tour Guide, White Rabbit Gallery (2015鈥揚resent)
- Events Assistant, Dangrove & Phoenix Spaces (2019鈥揚resent)
- Former Gallery Attendant, Museum of Contemporary Art (2015鈥2022)