Emma Anna

Emma Anna
Barranquilla, Atlantico, Colombia

STATEMENT

Born four decades ago in the Land of Oz, now living on the shore of the Colombian Caribbean. My head is full of tales from The New Old World (aka The N.O.W.), my favourite destination to play and unwind. I spend my days creating concrete poetry, patterns, textiles, sculptures, doodles, fantastical architecture, mess, magical lands and other spectacular.

I use computers, psychoanalysis, imagination, Facebook, paper shuffling and my left-side dog tooth to explore ideas surrounding black holes, parrots, calypso, international trade and finance, optical illusions, freedom and daily life in tropical hot spots.

I have shown work in public and private spaces, libraries, street footpaths and Chinese restaurants.

I believe in the power of dreams, collage, bicarbonate of soda, the creative process, orange flake-form shellac and a pair of really good scissors.

I fill suitcases with empty paint tubes, embroidery thread, piece-less puzzles and antique door handles.

I give guided tours to places that don’t yet exist.

BIO

I originally studied print journalism and international politics at university, graduating with a degree in Mass Communications. I never really developed a career in N.E.W.S., but I took to travel and exploration with fervour.

At some point on my journey, I returned to study graphic design and worked for many years in the textile and architecture industries in Australia before throwing in the towel on my day job and running back to art school.

I graduated with a Master’s in Public Art a decade ago having made a semi-famous work called IMAG_NE using giant Scrabble pieces. I fell in love with a Latin American painter/poet/dreamer and moved from my native Australia to Colombia. There we set up shop in the tropics and opened the doors on La Casa Verde (@lacasaverdeelprado) an independent creative space. These days, I also dabble in curation and education, and am keen to promote creativity in all its forms. I’ve always made collage and I now use it as a gateway to introduce others to art and self-expression.

I’ve won some awards and accolades along the way, most recently the Melbourne Prize for Urban Sculpture’s Public Artwork Design Concept Prize for a project proposal called The Elocwean Rainbow. This project sought to create a public rainbow/kaleidoscope installation in central Melbourne as a homage to the famous Melbourne bookseller E.W. Cole, his eccentric Victorian-era Book Arcade and his wonderful self-published collection of riddles and ephemera, The Coles Funny Picture Book. Maybe one day in the future this concept will become a reality.

ARTIST CONTACT

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IMAGES