Her practice is research-led and project-focused.
Visual markers of time, of place and in particular of boundaries are central to the concerns of her practice. The work is often site- or space-specific and informed by real and imagined narratives.
The process of making work involves both engagement with an idea but also the fabrication of the work. She makes maquettes and drawings and these invariably develop and shift the initial concept. The process is iterative, outcomes are generally human-scale and object-based.
She has held residencies at the Wallace Collection, London, the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Monaghan, the Centre culturel irlandais, Paris, Trinity Buoy Wharf, London and the Royal Academy.
Various public institutions have supported JW's work including: Arts Council N. Ireland; Ards and North Down Borough Council; United States of America Embassy, London and the Guild of Founders, London.
JW's professional practice is further supported by freelance work with museums, galleries and universities as researcher and lecturer in both contemporary and historical contexts.
JW studied Sculpture at Central Saint Martins, London; she read Classics at the University of Cambridge and holds a PhD in Byzantine history from Queen's University, Belfast.