Jade Richards-Butler
i: neighbourhooddraws | w: neighbourhooddraws.com
Jade Richards-Butler is a Melbourne-based artist, illustrator, and photographer with a practice rooted in capturing the quiet poetry of urban spaces. Combining her photographic background with hand-drawn illustration, she documents the stories held in local shopfronts, streets, and buildings through her ongoing project, Neighbourhood Draws.
Jade is also the co-founder of Kindred Cameras, where she heads the gallery program, fostering community and championing emerging artists.
She holds a Master of Fine Arts from RMIT and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SCAD Hong Kong. Her work has been exhibited in both Australia and Hong Kong, including at Maggie Wren’s Art Space and the Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre.
Whether through drawing or photography, Jade’s work invites us to slow down and notice the beauty in ordinary places.
Fruit Mart
Digital Illustration, Inkjet Print, 22.4cm x 29.8cm, 2024
Edition 1/1
$150
"In 2022, I found myself outside Hard Rubbish Bar, drinking a pint at a plastic table, when I took a quick photo. Nothing fancy, just a moment caught between sips. But something about the place wouldn’t let me go. The peeling sign writing, the jumble of second-hand furniture spilling out onto the street, each piece carrying its own quiet history.
I thought about that building for months. Maybe longer.
Eventually, I drew it. I had no idea what I was doing, just a need to hold onto it somehow. That drawing is still unfinished, and I’m not sure I’ll ever finish it. Like the building itself, it’s perfect in its imperfection, a story caught mid-sentence.”