Painter, exhibited Homeground at Caloundra Art Gallery (Qld) in 2000 with her sister Marianne Penberthy .
Johns’ stated in the exhibition catalogue:
“When I began this project it seemed that I had very few memories and yet suffused over all memory was a very strong impression of childhood as a halcyon time in which I felt wrapped in a pearly cloak of happiness and protection. This impression was my initial response to the theme and remained strong whether I was painting from actual landscape, or from my experience of childhood, abstractly.
The changes that had happened to Caloundra brought up surprisingly strong emotions of anger and distress in me. I realised that I was superimposing a map of my own on the Caloundra of today … my childhood 'mind map’ that I had thought still existed somewhere. My memories were not visual recollections but came from the centre of experience, as childhood memories do, indistinct yet powerful. Rather than describe places or people, I tried to work with this memory-awareness of them.
For me 'Homeground’ has been the catalyst for a liberating process, a rare opportunity to encounter through painting the griefs and celebrate the joys of my early life, to honour my parents’ memory and to pay tribute to the beautiful town that was my home.”
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
