Ellen Jury is a Melbourne-based painter whose practice explores the emotional and psychological dimensions of everyday spaces. Having lived in Brunswick her entire life, Jury draws inspiration from her immediate surroundings — the textures, light, and structures that define the city’s inner north.

Working from her studio in Coburg, Jury creates flat, meticulously composed paintings of interior and exterior spaces drawn from spontaneous photographs taken during daily outings. These images often capture banal, transitional, or overlooked places — moments of stillness that evoke both familiarity and an unsettling sense of emptiness. When translated into paint, these scenes become jarringly static, amplifying feelings of disquiet and isolation.

Her work navigates the tension between the ordinary and the surreal, using tight compositions and precise surfaces to create a “perfect strangeness.” Each painting reflects the inescapable loneliness that lingers within empty spaces, while also revealing their quiet elegance — a harmony of melancholy and contentment.

A graduate of the Bachelor of Visual Arts at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA), Jury has exhibited in group shows across Melbourne. Her ongoing body of work continues to examine how architecture, atmosphere, and memory shape the emotional landscape of contemporary life.