PIA JOHNSON

EXHIBITIONS

ARTWORKS

Featured

Cusp exhibition

Pia Johnson
Landscape 1623, 2016-19
archival pigment print
34 x 41 cm

Cusp

Pia Johnson
Landscape 6651, 2018
archival pigment print
75 x 50 cm

Cusp

Pia Johnson
Landscape 9653, 2018
archival pigment print

Cusp

Pia Johnson
Maela 0145, 2018
archival pigment print
140 x 90 cm

Cusp

Pia Johnson
Maela 2227, 2017
archival pigment print
127 x 84 cm

The Nauru Files, File date 28 September 2014

This series of works were commissioned for the exhibition All We Can’t See: Illustrating the Nauru Files curated by Arielle Gamble. The exhibition depicted individual artistic interpretations of the leaked Nauru files exposed by The Guardian in 2016, illuminating the stark human cost of Australia’s policies of offshore detention.

Untitled series was created in response to the Nauru Files published by The Guardian. My works speak to the file dated 28 September 2014. Reading the files was overwhelming and disheartening, the omnipresent word ‘REDACTED’ – will always grate – these nameless people have had experiences I cannot comprehend. My response is visual, with my body – as I can find no words.

"She reported that she has been asking for a 4 minute shower as opposed to 2 minutes. Her request has been accepted on condition of sexual favours. It is a male security person. She did not state if this has or hasn't occurred. The security officer wants to view a boy or girl having a shower."

Untitled II (File date, 28 Sept 2014), edition of 5, 2017
archival inkjet print . framed
84 x 59.4 cm

Untitled I (File date, 28 Sept 2014), edition of 5, 2017
archival inkjet print, framed
29.7 x 21 cm

Untitled III (File date, 28 Sept 2014), edition of 5, 2017
archival inkjet print, framed
42 x 29.7 cm

The Widening Gyre

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre”

- The Second Coming, W.B. Yeats

... vortices ... time and space changing ... always ... in-between ... now with another... a child ... from my body, into the world ... a continuous turning ... and returning ... to who I am, who I have been, who I am becoming ... this us ... the symbols and ... rituals of my family ... my culture ... to be ... to be passed on ... like a jewel ... an inheritance ... a legacy ... to stand against a world always pushing inwards ... to make me strong ... to make her strong ... strength ... in the world ... in the suffering of the world ... being responsible for another life ... is daunting ... sometimes ... I close my eyes... surrender to the darkness ...

The Widening Gyre 1
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 2
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 3
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 4
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 5
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 6
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 7
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 8
2015
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

The Widening Gyre 9
2015
mural, inkjet pigment print on vinyl
2550 x 3900 cm

also available as:
archival inkjet pigment print
81 x 54 cm / limited edition of 5 + AP

In a dim light…

The setting is rural Japan in the middle of the night. The 100-year-old house stands nestled between mountains, bamboo, rice paddies and the sea. It is made of wood and filled with tatami mats and screens. Time passes slowly. The weather is changeable and so am I. I cannot sleep. I wander in this liminal space. Displaced in a foreign land. Listless, awake, the edges of self beginning to fray.