Johann's practice is diverse, multi-cultural and cross-disciplinary. She has been finalist and recepient of numerous awards nationally and internationally.
"I use a range of media in my practice. Drawing acts as a form of mapping new territory and personal navigation. I am interested in our perception of place, individually and collectively. My work is an ongoing enquiry about place and notions of home and belonging. The shifted physical space experienced during national lockdown and the world-wide pandemic crises brought new impulses to my work. A deceleration and intimate exploration of my immediate environment caused a shift in the way I felt connected. Observing places around me in ‘slow-motion’ has been my modus operandi, and seeing nature through an almost microscopic lens has been a forming experience; noticing edges and fringes. A new porousness that allowed me to un-peel and to re-construct layers of meaning in search for a new physicality.
Recent works are a response to an atmosphere of uncertainty, tectonic and environmental shifts. Beauty and wonder are undeniably all around us, but seem less visible in these testing times…everything feels affected by disruptions and is tirelessly fed by a flood of dystopian news. " I.Johann 2023
"Ina Johann is captivated with the experience of travel, and its mental corollary - search. Hers is an art of deliberate instability, which privileges the imaginative potential of those accidental stumblings-upon that happen in places not one's own, and the way the eye is attuned to possibility when elsewhere. Her vision is a travellers, aware of the creative potential of the peripheral, of the margin, aware of time, aware of the view's partiality. It cuts snippets of visual experience, often not particularly remarkable or notable, from the day's great unrolling reel, and frames them for the viewer. But there is a tension in their seeming-centrality, a feeling of drag, that any moment their layered, impressionistic palimpsests of visual data could be pulled back again into the great blind flow. Her development of ways in which to ground images while remaining open to drift has seen interests in screenprinting, photography, video, installation, audio and found archival images included among the formal and technical hand-luggage she carries."
Excerpt by Sally Ann McIntyre 2005
Education and relevant dates
2000 - 2001
Travel and work in Germany (three months); Completion of post graduate studies - Meisterschuelerin (master class student qualification; Master-class student of K. Menzel), Akademie fuer Bildende Kuenste der Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, Germany
2000
Travel and work in Germany (six months); MFA equivalent completion (exhibition); Akademie fuer Bildende Kuenste der Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, Germany
1997 - 2000
Diplom der Freien Bildenden Kunst (Postgraduate studies; German equivalent of MFA), Akademie fuer Bildende Kuenste der Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, Germany
1997
Immigration to Christchurch/New Zealand
1991-1997
Erste Staatspruefung fuer das Lehramt an Gymnasien (MFA equivalent combined with a teaching degree), Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz, Germany
INA JOHANN – AWARDS
Merit Award Parkin Drawing Prize 2022, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington
Merit Award Parkin Drawing Prize 2020, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington
Merit Award Parkin Drawing Prize 2016, New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington
EDWARDS+JOHANN Supreme Winner New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Award 2016, Hamilton
Merit Award National Contemporary Art Award 2014, Waikato Museum, Hamilton
EDWARDS+JOHANN Winner Margaret Stoddart Award 2009
Supreme Winner CoCA/Anthony Harper Contemporary Art Award 2006, Christchurch
Winner of the CoCA/Guthrey Travel Award 2005, Christchurch
Financial assistance by the Goethe Institute Wellington and the Ministerium fuer Wissenschaft und Kultur Rheinland Pfalz; for the exhibition project Moving Spaces with Sandra Heinz; 2002; Venues: CoCA Christchurch/NZ and Bellevuesaal Wiesbaden/Germany
Finalist in all major art awards in New Zealand: Wallace Art Awards, ZONTA Ashburton Female Art Award, Molly Morpeth Canady Award, Parkin Drawing Prize, National Contemporary Art Award, Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award, National Drawing Award, CoCA/Anthony Harper Art Award, CoCA Contemporary Art Award 2002
Professional highlights include
2015
Artist Residency at Altes Spital, Solothurn/Switzerland in collaboration with Victoria Edwards
2009/2010
Artist Residencies in France in collaboration with Victoria Edwards
Artist Residencies in Scotland in collaboration with Victoria Edwards
2004
Guest artist at Silpakorn University Bangkok
2002/2003
Guest Lecturer at the Akademie fuer Bildende Kuenste der Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet Mainz/Germany
1998-2006
Senior Lecturer in Fine Arts (part-time) & Course-Coordinator Fine Arts (2003 & 2004) at Design & Arts College of NZ Ltd, Department of Fine Arts, Christchurch
Exhibition highlights include
POROSITIES solo exhibition at Ashburton Art Gallery, Ina Johann, 20 February - 16 March 2021
Concretions - the act of coming together 2019, Edwards+Johann, 7 - 25 May, Chambers Art Gallery and studio spaces, Christchurch
Volcanic Artist Residency ,Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre, Edwards+Johann, 24 September - 2 November 2018, Whakatane
from THE EDGE of SPACES, Whangarei Art Museum, Edwards+Johann, 31 August - 25 November 2018, Whangarei
from THE EDGE of SPACES with the inclusion of Only Ghosts Glow in the Dark, Edwards+Johann, Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre, 20 April - 28 June 2018, Whakatane
Perilous Edges - what lingers in the mist, Pilot Volcanic Artist Residency and exhibition, Edwards+Johann, Te Koputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre, 20 April - 28 June 2018, Whakatane
From the Edge of Spaces, Chambers Art Gallery and studio spaces, Edwards+Johann, September/October 2017, Christchurch
Events Growing from the Edge of Spaces, Edwards+Johann, TSB Bank Wallace Arts Centre, The Pah Homestead, 29 May - 9 July 2017, Auckland
No two skies are ever the same, Edwards+Johann, public performance and exhibition, Galerie9, March 2015, Solothurn/Switzerland
Artist in Residence Altes Spital, Edwards+Johann, January - March 2015, Altes Spital Kultur - and Kongresszentrum Solothurn/Switzerland
Rebels Knights and Other Tomorrows, Christchurch Art Gallery, Tuam Street Gallery, Edwards+Johann, August - November 2014, Christchurch
On the Seam of Things, DSA Gallery, School of Art, Otago Polytechnic, Edwards+Johann, August 2014, Dunedin
Bliss, group exhibition, Edwards+Johann, Chambers 241, December 2013, Christchurch
[IN] box, group exhibition, Edwards+Johann, Artbox project, November 2013, Christchurch
Paper Trails - works on paper, group exhibition, Edwards+Johann, Chambers @241, June 2013, Christchurch
Tormenting Luxury, Edwards+Johann, Nadene Milne Gallery, Arrowtown, New Zealand
Faculty of Wonder - Lost and Found: take two, Edwards+Johann, Chambers @241, Christchurch
A Gathering, group exhibition curated by Grant Banbury, E+J, CPIT, August 2011, Christchurch
A Chain of Episodes, Six Christchurch Artists, Edwards+Johann, Arts Post, Waikato Museum Hamilton, July/August 2011
Faculty of Wonder : Lost & Found, Edwards+Johann, Auckland Festival of Photography exhibition, Lopdell House Gallery Titirangi, May/June 2011
I can't...you see, Edwards+Johann, Christchurch Art Gallery, Twin Set, September 2010 & January/February 2011
Perth II Island Ties: The Return of the Pacific Flicker, Edwards+Johann, AK Bell Library, Perth/Scotland, November 2010
Tableau Vivant, E+J Art Project with students of St John RC Academy, Perth/Scotland, November 2010
Perth I Maps of Engagement: Pathways and connections: E+J Artist Residency at Perth Museum and Art Gallery, funded by Perth & Kinross Council/Perth800, May/June 2010
Forms of Narratives, Edwards+Johann, Group exhibition with PVAF members, Birnam/Scotland, June 2010,
CHATEAU de PADIES ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM in association with its CULTURE & CULTURES Festival, Lempaut/France, 2009 & 2010
Science and Voyages II - From the Pacific to the Attic and A voyage of discovery - from installation to installation, Edwards+Johann, Exhibition project and performance at Chateau de Padies, May 2010
LeSalon Recroit, Edwards+Johann, group exhibition, Toulouse, France, May 2010
Les Jardiniers - Artistes et leurs outiles, Edwards+Johann, The Artistes in residence 2009/10, Group exhibition, Chateau de Padies, June 2010
Notations on a visit - Ghosts and Hydrangeas in the Attic; Edwards+Johann: Exhibition and Performance, Chateau de Padies, October 2009
I'll be your mirror - One of us cannot be wrong, Edwards+Johann: Bath Street Gallery, Auckland, August 2009,
Fishing in a Bathtub: Tormenting Luxury 2007/2008, Edwards+Johann, MIC, Auckland, May/June 2009
E+J Artists in Schools Residency at Selwyn College, Auckland/New Zealand, May/June 2009
A splinter in the eye is the best looking glass, Edwards+Johann, CoCA, Christchurch, April 2009
2009
Art Auction, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu; CoCA/Anthony Harper Award 2009, finalist,CoCA, Christchurch; Interruption to Transmission, CoCA, Christchurch; National Drawing Award 2009, Artspace/Auckland, The Physics Room/Christchurch
2008
CoCa/Anthony Harper Award 2008, finalist,CoCA, Christchurch; 2007; Snap to Grid, Lacda, Los Angeles; Shifting Spaces, collaboration with Elfi Spiewack, Inform gallery, Christchurch; CoCA/Anthony Harper Contemporary Award 2007, CoCA, Christchurch;LACDA 'Top 40' Juried Show, Los Angeles Centre of Digital Art, Los Angeles; Gates and Journeys II, CoCA,Christchurch; National Drawing Award 2008, The Physics Room, Christchurch
2006
Anonymous Drawings, Bluetenweiss, Raum fuer Kunst, Berlin/Germany; National Drawing Award 2006, Artspace, Auckland; The Middle Way, Randolph Street Gallery,Auckland; Trust Waikato National Contemporary Art Award 2006, Waikato Museum, Hamilton; CoCA/Anthony Harper Contemporary Art Award 2006, Winning entry,Christchurch; Film Archive: Viewfinder, Acknowledged as Detail, Repeating In Place, visual/sound collaboration with Sally McIntyre, Auckland Library; The National Grid, Stuttering Structures #2, Bartley Nees Gallery, Wellington
2005
Repeating In Place, collaboration with Sally McIntyre, The Kiosk, Christchurch; Canary Gallery's Inaugural Artist's Film Festival 2005, Auckland; Crossings:, experimental sound and vision, Christchurch; Mond 3 – Ungeschminkt, Kunstzentrum Bosener Mühle, Germany; Trans, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin; Cranleigh Barton Drawing Award 2005, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, Christchurch; GPS, CoCA, Christchurch and Randolph Street Gallery, Auckland; CatchPool, visual/sound performance with Peter May & Adam Hayward, Adam Concert Room, Victoria University, Wellington; NOT hoMe grown, Southern Oscillation, Castle Hill sound festival
2004
New Global Vision: East and West The 11th international Art Festival, Eastern Centre of Art and Culture, Burapha University, Chonburi/Thailand; The Middle/Way, Touring exhibition in Thailand: Arts Centre, Silpakorn University/Bangkok, Eastern Art Centre, Burapha University/Burapha, Chiang Mai University Art Gallery/Chiang Mai and Thaksiri University Art Gallery/Songkhla (2004 and 2005); Static Mansion#4, video/sound performance with Peter May and Adam Hayward, Christchurch; National Drawing Award 2005, Artspace, Auckland & The Physics Room, Christchurch; CoCA/Anthony Harper Contemporary Award 2004, CoCA, Christchurch
2003
The Middle Way, exhibition project and workshop with five Thai artists and five NZ artists, CoCA, Christchurch; Travel Stories VI, solo exhibition, Lopdell House Gallery, Titirangi/Auckland; CrossXover, solo exhibition, Te tuhi-the mark, Pakuranga/Auckland
2002
Ina haere koe, Landtag des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken/Germany; Shift, Campbell Grant Galleries, Christchurch; CoCA Contemporary Art Award 2002, CoCA, Christchurch; Moving Spaces, cross-cultural exhibition project with German artist Sandra Heinz, Christchurch/NZ and Wiesbaden/Germany
2001
Travel Stories VI, The Physics Room/Christchurch and The Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin; The Launch Group Exhibition, Landing Service Building, Timaru; The Cotton Show, Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin; The Argonauts, Linwood Community Centre, Christchurch, CoCA Contemporary Art Award 2001, CoCA, Christchurch, Object 180101090201 Space, Kiosk, Christchurch
2000
Brechung, solo exhibition, Alte Waggonfabrik, Mainz/Germany; Thoroughfare - Art on the Southside, group exhibition, Christchurch; Selected as one of the artists for Christchurch Art and Industry 2000 Biennial (project not realised)