Dermis
Johanna van der Linden
25
August 2022
25
August
2022
16
September 2022
Gallery 1
Dermis repositions the sacred within the profane as a gesture of alteration and transformation, in relation to the female and other body. Abject, tumbling, heavy flesh transformed into sacred object,monolith.I work with the latex, painting on and then peeling back, stretching and pulling. There is an ongoing tension in Dermis between fixing and breaking, layering and tearing away; a morphing, living organ. Embedded in the layers of latex are old prints of mine, and family heirlooms of lace fabric inherited from my great grandmother. The latex acts as an embalmer, preserving these objects in its folds. The family heirlooms are an ongoing presence in my work, responding to ideas of trauma and upbringing. The Mary’s are made using soap and wax, and over time have begun to crumble and break apart, some have been washed smooth. These create a shrine of broken offerings.Dermis embraces crumbling, unruly, bulging materials and forms in defiance of the Christian notions of the perfect, functional, reproductive female body.
Exhibition documented by Teagan Ramsay.
Dermis repositions the sacred within the profane as a gesture of alteration and transformation, in relation to the female and other body. Abject, tumbling, heavy flesh transformed into sacred object,monolith.I work with the latex, painting on and then peeling back, stretching and pulling. There is an ongoing tension in Dermis between fixing and breaking, layering and tearing away; a morphing, living organ. Embedded in the layers of latex are old prints of mine, and family heirlooms of lace fabric inherited from my great grandmother. The latex acts as an embalmer, preserving these objects in its folds. The family heirlooms are an ongoing presence in my work, responding to ideas of trauma and upbringing. The Mary’s are made using soap and wax, and over time have begun to crumble and break apart, some have been washed smooth. These create a shrine of broken offerings.Dermis embraces crumbling, unruly, bulging materials and forms in defiance of the Christian notions of the perfect, functional, reproductive female body.
Johanna van der Linden
Johanna van der Linden is a multi disciplinary artist from Naarm (Melbourne), with an ongoing interest in materiality, Catholicism, upbringing, shame and representations of the female body. Engaging with concepts around feminist new materialisms, Johanna uses materials such as latex, steel, wax, soap and family heirlooms as a point of departure in her practice which spans sculpture, installation and printmaking. Johanna uses forging, welding, casting and printing techniques to create forms and surfaces which disrupt the functionality and reverence targeted at Catholic symbolism as processes which de-sacralise and de-formalise. She is interested in the relationships between form, materiality and space, and how tensions and slippages between the sacred and profane can be manipulated, broken and re-made.She received her B.A. from Australian Catholic University, and an Honours (First Class) in Fine Arts from RMIT university. She is currently studying towards a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.