Support Material
Amelia Johannes is a Melbourne based artist, whose practice visually explores identity, uncertainty, memory and tradition. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, Johannes’ video and photography works are influenced by research into identity, migration, cultural heritage and anthropology. Her creative investigations re-assemble collected materials in idiosyncratic ways, to emphasize patterns and to transform the original material into visually abstract forms to conceptually investigate signifiers of identity.
Artist website: ameliajohannes.art
Artist CV: ameliajohannes.art/previous-exhibitions
Video experiments to be installed:
Examples of extracts from family letters:
“Congratulations! It’s the best news we had for a long time. We are so happy for you all...but we all knew you would be coming over soon, only we didn’t know when…your planned sea trip sounds very exciting…”
“...don’t forget what we always said, once you’ve settled, you can then in turn, send for them”
“Anyway how are all the guys on that side…”
“You know I never realised how much I missed my own family around me, it’s difficult to explain but even our sense of humor is different...As you said...its where we come from”
“So these are the suggestions, after our own experiences, and by asking around recent and long established … settlers. All electrical appliances, but not: television, stove, clock radio? plays , but only on F.M…everything works, only plugs need changing…”
”There is a program on T.V of the the early immigrants, how they started with little or no money, can’t speak English, but against all the odds some made a success of their lives and today own their own homes and thriving businesses’
Previous video work examples