JOY JOHNSON
Lives and works in United Kingdom
Biography
2009 Attended college as a mature student, to gain an education to start a new life. Gained distinction in Sociology and English and advised to try University.
2010 Applied for BA Hons Fine Art, whereas hesitant as had not done art at school and had no knowledge of artistic things such as colour wheels or artistic terminology.
2010 BA Hons Fine Art course at University of Northampton. The tutors encouraged the freedom of speech through art, believing that every artist created art unique to their own personal experiences.
2011 Designed numerous posters for a national company associated with domestic violence and sexual assault that circulated within Northampton and the surrounding areas.
2011 Worked voluntary with children who were victims or perpetrators of domestic violence, showing the children that art could release their anger and could act as a language away from the norms of the national curriculum.
2012 Entered art work into competitions and exhibitions to show that a person does not need to know a colour wheel to create art, as it is the life experiences, materials and mediums used by the creator that produces the art. Art acts as a language between authors of traumatic tales, whereas the art created is not about the artist themselves, as society is full of hidden artists that cannot speak out and lead a normal life, whereas when creating art the artist is able to speak out by using art as a language.
Artist statement
Sacrifice, 2011 depicted the effects of domestic violence witnessed by a child. The child did not have to be physically hit to become a victim of domestic violence, as witnessing a loved one being physically, mentally and verbally abused could affect the child from within. The child became a silent victim, resembling a statue afraid to move and unable to speak out. The child had lost all the things associated with childhood such as innocence, happiness and freedom, therefore cracks developed within the child. Whereas over time the child could not take the silence anymore and cracks started to visually appear upon the child’s face. Sacrifice, 2011 followed previous series created that were associated with taboo subjects such as Abduction 2010, Missing 2010, Hidden 2010, A mother’s sacrifice 2011, Sacrifice One 2011, Sacrifice Two 2011 and echoes the theme of the series presently being created entitled 14 Stations of the Cross, 2012. Art acts as a language to artists that are inhibited from speaking out and leading a normal life, whereas an artist can be free when creating art as only the creator can create such pieces due to experiencing what they are trying to portray.