Upstairs

3 February – 15 February

CYCLONE SEES - Joanna Abraham Joseph

'Cyclone Sees' is my reaction to how Cyclone Gabrielle transformed local waters into a fluid feast of heavy mud, raw energy and celestial colours at speed. It is also about what happened afterwards, when the gusts died down and the waters finally retreated.

This work pertains to capturing the feeling of awe and magnanimity of this event, of how the sea became a creature unleashed, hurtling itself all over the banks of Wairoa. It has mostly been because of my moments of longboarding in the sea, that I have begun to recognise that destruction is really the basis of existence and that as humans we are always learning this.

Bio:

Joanna Abraham Joseph was born in 1971 in Wellington. She graduated with a Diploma of Fine Arts from The Otago School of Fine Art in 1994 and has been exhibiting ever since. (Works prior to 2022 are signed under Tokona).

In 2016 Abraham Joseph relocated from Otago to Wairoa where she now lives and works with her husband Tristan. She has been represented by PAULNACHE, Tūranga-nui-a-Kiwa (Gisborne), since 2022.