Anita Johnson

Anita Johnson
Photo: Stephen Oxenbury

Anita Johnson′s art practice is concerned with the brokenness of things, notions of repair, human experiences of longing and states of transition. The familiar domestic objects that she transforms into sculptures are salvaged objects chosen for their history of close human interaction. The flaws, cracks, and missing parts of a salvaged object give her ways of intervening in the usual reading of that object. Pushing the object to the unexpected and improbable, to become poetic and psychologically affective objects, she often re-makes the familiar object or brings about unexpected connections with the human body and sensual materials such as felt, clay and beeswax. The resulting sculptural objects are at once ordinary and extraordinary, mundane and magical, questioning our human relations to the world around us and to each other. They reveal themes of longing, love, loss, separation and healing. She will complete a Doctor of Creative Arts at Wollongong University in 2022 that focuses on concepts of brokenness and repair within her contemporary art practice. She is also a sessional lecturer in sculpture at the National Art School.  

Her work has featured in numerous group exhibitions including The Wynne Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, The UWS Acquisitive Sculpture Award, The Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize, The Blake Prize, Sculptural Felt International, Meroogal Womens Art Prize, David Harold Tribe Sculpture Award, The 6th International World Textile Biennial of Contemporary Art, Mexico and The Beijing International Art Biennale.   

Johnson′s work is represented in public collections including the Macquarie University Sculpture Park, Wollongong Art Gallery, The National Textile Collection, Westmead Hospital, Tamworth Regional Gallery, The University of Wollongong, and The Australian War Memorial Art Collection. 

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