15 September - 2 October 2005
Opening: Thursday 15 September 5.30 - 8pm

This exhibition is essentially about a boy, her son and her defiance against the experience of loss. Janno has chosen to concentrate on the strengths of hope, optimism and resilience and uses metaphors such as the elephant, the llama and the magic lantern. There is a purposeful repetition of images and metaphors. The subtle differences in these repetitions, mirrors the teaching methods that allows her son to understand different concepts.

As a process for exploring the meanings in her art for this body of work, Janno started a conversation with an old friend. The conversation took place in her studio. Surrounded by her work, she was able to share and bring to life her feelings,thoughts and inspiration.

“Beautiful, but simple lines, but under there are layers. I’ve used white, for the experience of purity of my son’s soul. I see the white as innocence and as vulnerability.

There are elephants, llamas; the endangered. I am interested in the physicality of painting and direct human mark. I like to break down concepts into real tangible experience so he can feel and touch it. It’s the abstract becoming a real experience. I want this to be universal, to say something to others about the wondering of what is going on in another’s mind?

Does he dream that he is free to explore, to be less locked in?

I also paint about the primitive, the cave paintings - the simple lines. The Llama’s are my link to South America and an ancient indigenous civilization. I see our history, the llama, the Incas, the past. I am looking at roots, where we come from.”

These paintings are not so much about what is lost, but an acknowledgement of loss and in doing so the seeking for life, hope, optimism and resilience.

“The giving a voice to my experience, my son’s and all those who experience the hidden, inaccessible, the not quite known and who desire life, freedom, a voice and the chance to explore. Particularly the vulnerable.

A shape, a llama, I see space, I see life, in the background. There are birds, a tapestry, it is almost wall paper. I see angels, heaven and a place of safety. I am hoping for a world, a place, a garden, nature that can provide safe haven. Can I go there too?

Looking around the canvas, I see bubbles and drips where the colour repels and is not holding. They are separate, not quite fitting in, standing out. A prince....Chronicles of Narnia - the talking animals....going to other lands, fitting into other places, finding like souls. I am looking at the crown - he is special.”

“The images are simple - to acknowledge the child spirit or child in our selves, our dreams and imagination.

Hope is a major theme in my work. It is the optimism of the child, the seeking and the creating, and the creation of beauty and colour.

There is an exploration of the experience of trying to communicate and to identify with aspects of lived experience when one feels isolated and not understood.”

Janno’s work depicts the tension between hope and loss, vulnerability and resilience, fear and desire,the whimsical and the solid, and the decorative and the painful. The paintings hold the staying in the tension of these elements of lived experience. Janno finds her connection and resilience in the spaces created by nature and the imagination.

The art making process is significant for Janno. The physical act of painting, creating and applying colour resonates with a sense of risk taking, discovery and feeling. The immersion into creative experience in itself is a process of revealing and understanding.

It’s about a boy. My boy, your boy, our boy. Our dreams, and hopes held simply and with beauty for another day. Sue Pratt B. Beh. Sc., B. Ed(couns)., M. A. Please join us for the opening on Thursday 15 September 2005 5:30 - 8pm Children more than welcome. (It s about a boy)