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OVER THE PAST two years Ellen Johansen and her partner, M G Walker have been creating collaborative artworks, drawing upon their divergent artistic approaches to create works that deal with themes of psychological and spiritual transformation.
 
Prior to these collaborations, Ellen's works had been primarily involved with colour, with the magnification and distillation of visual elements experienced in nature and in wilderness, and in exploring the dynamism of these elemental forces. M G Walker, with an extensive background in drawing and printmaking, had been creating large-scale, brush and ink narratives that were imaginative, often quirky, sometimes satirical, and fundamentally inspired by literature and mythology relating to existential issues. The sources informing Johansen and Walker's respective art practices were, therefore, very different: M G Walker's work tends more often to be characterised primarily by fine line figurative brushwork, and Ellen's paintings generally are rooted in her passion and interest in the subject of the emotional impact of colour experienced in nature.
 
As a point of departure for this recent series of collaboratives, we began our approach to image-making initially by ongoing discussions of our respective responses to social and political issues being reported in media world-wide over this same period. A new thread of image-making was emerging for us both, as we became suddenly shocked and impressed by the tumultuous and far-reaching impact of the recent financial crisis on millions of people internationally. On the socio-political level, vast extremes of personal experience were being reported, ranging from the excesses of money and the self/other- exploitation experienced by a small percentage of society on the one hand, to the extreme "austerities" imposed on many millions, on the other. The evidence of extremely divergent effects on vast populations revealed to us ways in which both cultural and spiritual transformation were becoming suddenly catalysed through the intrusion of massive political and economic forces. The central theme of this two-year collaborative process emerged as "transformation"--its struggles and triumphs, both personal and collective.
 
These collaborative works can be regarded, at one level, as reflections of the socio-political milieu in which we are living. For us, however, to collaborate is to explore meaning at multiple levels. The images of human and mythical beings who inhabit these paintings, are presented in a variety of guises. Narratives are taking place within unspecified spaces in which transformation is occurring, irrespective of age, sex, culture, wealth, education or power. Fluid colour contributes to a suggestion of the emotional climate of the implied narrative. There are symbols of power and influence, clothing relating to different historical periods, and individuals at times appearing partially clothed or even completely naked.
 

Dreamlike imagined scenarios appear as metaphors for humanity as we undergo transformation and change, experienced in all times and places. For us, collaborative works continue to be a consideration not only of the inevitability of change and limitation, but also of the possibility and opportunity for human freedom and resilience.

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Copyright Ellen Johansen 2015. All rights reserved.

COLLABORATIONS

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ELLEN JOHANSEN

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