Amanda Johnson
Artwork title: Colonial Heat Panninher Country, Longford
Medium: Polymer acrylic and oil on canvas
Size: 60 cm x 110 cm
Price: $5,000
About the Artwork
Colonial Heat: Paninnher Country, Longford evokes historical anglicisations of Tasmanian country, depicting gorse bush, berry hedgerows and other introduced species. The stripped landscape suggests impacts of colonial agriculture. An almost toxic palette signals sunset prettiness, but also alludes to climate change. Arthur Streeton once painted gorsescapes as emblematic expressions of antipodean settler arcadia. However, this picture’s deceptive pastoral aspect quietly nods to erasure and threat. I suggest that the colonial past is not remote, that inside our colonial continuum, aestheticised landscapes are still purveyed despite devastations of local ecologies.
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About the Artist
Amanda Johnson is a painter and writer living and working on a collective landcare property on Gadabanud country in Cape Otway, Victoria. Her work has been shortlisted in the Glover Prize (2022), Hadley’s Art Prize (2024, 2022, 2021 and 2019) and Bruny Prize (2018 and 2016). Her most recent solo show is Stranglehold: Colonial Heat held at fortyfive downstairs gallery, Melbourne.
Since graduating from a Masters in painting at Victorian College of the Arts in 1995, Amanda has been the recipient of Asialink and Arthur Boyd Bundanon residencies for painting. Her exhibition Friable: The Lost Garden was held at Geelong Gallery in 2015 as part of the gallery’s regional artists program.