Cara Johnson

Australia

Cara Johnson’s craft-based practice interrogates tensions and narratives connected to the ways land is treated and used through material, intention and invested labour. Her practice is intertwined with her rural location in which she works in isolation, surrounded by bushland and sheep paddocks. Utilising agricultural refuse, weed plant species and what remains from regeneration projects, her work engages primarily with the jewellery vernacular to rework these materials while drawing upon tensions between people and plants, and ideas around control.

 

In 2016 she completed a Bachelor of Fine Art (First Class Hons.) at RMIT University and is a current PhD Candidate and sessional lecturer in RMITs School of Art. Recent solo exhibitions include Understory at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Overlay at the Santos Museum of Economic Botany in Adelaide. Cara also exhibits widely in group shows, notably Paper Art at CODA Museum in the Netherlands, Elegy at Gallery Funaki and had work represented in Schmuck 2022 in Munich. She has been selected for Schmuck 2023.

 

Cara has works held in various private and public collections including the National Gallery of Victoria. Her first solo exhibition at Funaki was Semblance of Repair (2022).



38°22'37"S 144°15'53"E (a handful of dirt), 2016, iron

More work by Cara Johnson

Unearth II by Cara Johnson Unearth II , 2019, paper, iron, handmade paper thread ,
Unearth II by Cara Johnson Unearth II , 2019, paper, iron, handmade paper thread ,
Fell IV by Cara Johnson Fell IV , 2017, paper, iron, handmade paper thread ,
Unravelling II by Cara Johnson Unravelling II , 2021, willow, found baling twine ,
Collected lines by Cara Johnson Collected lines , 2017, paper, iron, paper thread ,
 by Cara Johnson , 2016, iron ,
Cast back I by Cara Johnson Cast back I , 2022, River redgum fence post, found baling twine ,
Cast back II by Cara Johnson Cast back II , 2022, paper, iron, found silage netting ,
Paddock I by Cara Johnson Paddock I , 2022, English broom, iron ,
Taking measures by Cara Johnson Taking measures , 2019, iron ,
Tether II by Cara Johnson Tether II , 2021, found tree guard, iron ,
Verdant I by Cara Johnson Verdant I , 2022, willow, found baling twine, paint ,
Verdant II by Cara Johnson Verdant II , 2022, willow, found baling twine, paint ,
Verdant III by Cara Johnson Verdant III , 2022, found silage wrap, found bailing twine ,

Exhibitions

Semblance of repair

30 November - 23 December 2022