Jess Driver is a New Zealand–based painter whose work navigates the emotional and psychological landscape of living in a world marked by environmental uncertainty and collective hesitation. Through a distinctive figurative language, Driver creates scenes where bodies appear suspended, burdened, or deep in contemplation, inhabiting spaces that drift between the real and the surreal. Her paintings often centre on characters caught in moments of pause — hanging, carrying, waiting — gestures that become metaphors for the wider paralysis of our time.