August 25, 2025

Jessa Fairbrother: Into the Void: Dealing with Pain When There's No Happy Ending

55 minutes

At some point in our lives, we all step into the void. Something so big happens that we struggle even to make sense of it.

This week Andrew is in conversation with artist JESSA FAIRBROTHER about finding our way through the pain of these unwanted experiences without getting trapped in repeating loops.

We discuss:

How grief over the loss of her parents and experiences of infertility have shaped Jessa’s work as an artist.

Finding value and beauty inside the void.

The cultural concept of the happy ending.

The transformative power of art.

Jessa Fairbrother is a British visual artist whose work spans stitch, photography, performance and drawing. The body is her main material. The artist book of her work Conversations with my mother, is held in collections at Tate Britain, the V&A, London and The Museum of Fine Art, Houston. Her companion piece, Role Play (Woman with Cushion) is included in Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood, a Hayward Touring exhibition travelling the UK throughout 2024-2025. Jessa became an RWA Academician in 2023. In 2025 she was awarded a DYCP award from ACE to expand her interdisciplinary writing and is authoring her experimental hybrid memoir. She works from her studio in Bristol and the Wye Valley, UK.

If You’re Looking for More….

You can subscribe to The Meaningful Life (via Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts) and hear a bonus mini-episode every week. Or you can join our Supporters Club on Patreon to also access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50

This week supporters will hear:

The Healing Power of Making Things With Your Hands

Three Things Jessa Fairbrother knows to be true.

AND subscribers also access all of our previous bonus content - a rich trove of insight on love, life and meaning created by Andrew and his interviewees.

Follow Up

Attend Andrew's new men's retreat, Reconnect With Yourself, this autumn in the Brandenberg countryside near Berlin

Get Andrew’s free guide to difficult conversations with your partner: How to Tell Your Partner Difficult Things

Visit Jessa Fairbrother’s website

Follow Jessa Fairbrother on Instagram @jessfairbrother

Read “Letting Go of IVF”, by Jessa Fairbrother, on the Wellcome Collection website

Take a look at Andrew’s new online relationship course: My Best Relationship Tools

Join our Supporters Club to access exclusive behind-the-scenes content, fan requests and the chance to ask Andrew your own questions. Membership starts at just £4.50

Andrew offers regular advice on love, marriage and finding meaning in your life via his social channels. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube @andrewgmarshall

...more

View all episodes

By Andrew G. Marshall

4.5

2424 ratings