This sculpture exhibition delves into the intersection of myth and ancient technology, bringing to life prototypes inspired by the creations of Hephaestus and Hellenic figures. It highlights the uncanny parallels between legends, which caution against the power and peril of creation, and contemporary concerns surrounding emerging technologies. 

Blending the ancient craft lost-wax casting with digital techniques, the works reimagine the enduring and cyclical dialogue of innovation. Drawing from the Mediterranean landscape, this exhibition presents artefacts nestled in nooks and corners for your discovery. 

Included in this exhibition is a celebration of community through the creation of relic-like artefacts, crafted by IΩANNA's workshop attendees, fusing ancient techniques with contemporary interpretations.

Primordial Enigma | Suar wood carving | 2024

Primordial Enigma delves into the interplay between reality and the subconscious, where shapes from dreams and imagination materialise into tangible forms. I sculpt representations of these ephemeral forms that inhabit my artistic visions. Familiar shapes transform and merge into enigmatic entities—sometimes resembling fungi, body parts, or even entire creatures.

These fluid forms emerge from the solidity of the wood, inviting you into a realm of interpretation and projection onto my personal narratives.

My mentor and his workers laughed when I chose this piece of wood for it's various knots and eyes. I followed these features to guide the form using chainsaw and chisels. The process is a collaboration between artist and material, each stroke of the tool is a dialogue with the medium, a dance between intention and spontaneity to bring these forms to fruition.

Fertile Echo | Limestone and plant matter | 2025

Carved from the ancient sediment of Mt Gambier limestone, Fertile Echo embodies the tension between form and void, growth and erosion. This biomorphic sculpture resists singular interpretation—do you see a creature, mid-gesture, crowned with moss and teeming with life? Or is it a fungal bloom, an eruption of unseen vitality? Created during the 2024 Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show demonstration, this work speaks to the curious and enduring persistence of nature.

Gaze of the Unseen | Cast Aluminium (unique) | 2023

A project commenced during the pandemic, having relocated from Melbourne, Ioanna explored the theme of isolation and transformation. The subject, a producer from Melbourne, represents the collective sense of disconnection and disorientation that many of us experienced. His distorted face and obscured gaze symbolises the challenges of not only physical but emotional invisibility. Amidst this obscurity and a sense of upholding, this bust has the essence of an archaeological artifact, a testament to the enduring resilience of the human spirit.

Fading | Cast Aluminium (unique) | 2023

Fractured Adversity | Cast Aluminium (unique) | 2023

Flux | Cast Bronze (unique) | 2021

Accumulation | Cast Aluminium (unique) and Marble | 2024

Half a Mind | Self Portrait | Cast Aluminium (unique) | 2021

Artificial Assimilation | Solo Exhibition | Garage Kollectiv, Switzerland

Open Friday and Saturday Jan 6 - Feb 4, 2023

Imagine a contemporary world where your data is a currency and a virus can be weaponised with fear and dehuminisation.

The sculptures you see in front of you are composed from traditionalistic sculpture techniques. Fear and Creation was created in the turn of this year from the ground we stand on, local sandstone. The wood sculptures were carved by chainsaw and chisel in Indonesia from Pohan Pole, a sacred wood used for ceremonies and mask making. The metalwork was made in Australia, the artist's home country using the ancient craft of lost-wax casting with aluminum collected from discarded vehicles.

The robot face, we call them ‘Logos’ was generated by an Artificial Intelligent Logo program, the artist asked the program to do a self portrait. Ioanna has depicted Logos in various states… in creation, wide eyed and reflective, infected with an infestation and in destruction.

We’ve come so far to create technology that supports us to live our lives in a connected and efficient way. The roles are reversed here, Ioanna is working for the machines, to create relics for the robots. Who works for who in the future?

Assimilation is a natural instinct, the artist's explanation is only one interpretation. This exhibition encourages viewers to explore their own interpretation of the organic and technological forms.

Future Acroplolis | New York | Cyanotype Print | 2020

Digital Metropolis | Melbourne | 3D Rendered Resin | 2021

A step forward from Ioanna’s typical imitation and rightful eternalistion of nature, towards the representation of the digital age that is modern human civilisation.

Digital here refers not only to developments of modern technology and its integration into daily lifestyles, but also, it refers to the biological digits upon our very hands that are the actual creating force of modernity. Our fingers and thumbs enabled the emergence of societal advancement through technological and material construction. It is this parallel meaning of digital that is exemplified within this sculpture as two erect fingers that emerge from within the modern metropolis. It is augmented further by the fact that this work is made not from natural materials, but a synthetic resin that has it’s 3D printed finish highlighted with a synthetic blue finish.

The two small forms imply enormous scale and appear to be facing each other. Yet they’re isolated with the gap between them, a new sort of connection and distance that can be seen in the rise of modern phenomena including social media and the recent Covid-19 pandemic.

Digital Metropolis comes from Ioanna's recent series surrounding the future archeology of humanity.

Bronze. Brass. Pewter. Gold. Silver. Aluminium.

2019. 2020.

Digital Stich Planet [CLICK ME] | East Point, Northern Territory | 2021

Bane | Bronze, industrial steel | 2020

Laced | Bronze, industrial steel | 2020

Bane, Spore and Laced | Bronze, industrial steel | 2020

Trans Mute | Bronze, industrial steel | 2020

Resting | Recycled Aluminium | 2019

Future Flora | Recycled Aluminium | 2021

Stone.
2018. 2019.

The revealing of the meaning of these objects is deliberately suspended. These sculptures are the first step towards a creative, interpretive process for the viewer.

Although weighted and grounded, they hang delicately suspended, with the rope ineffectually attempting to capture the essence of their form.

These sculptures are aligned with Ioanna’s 2020 Solo Exhibition in Oslo, Norway and an installation in Melbourne, Australia.

Bronze.
2014. 2016. 2017.

Bronze.
2018. 2019.

A nostalgic dichotomy of the stable and ephemeral.

Frozen, yet slipping away.

A playful occurrence between the unexpected and the inevitable.

These pieces are from my wider series, composed during my 2018 AIR in Norway. This body of work transforms flimsy and seemingly disposable objects into long lasting and lavish forms.

Bronze.
2014. 2015.

Our desire to habituate and control all that is found rather than created by us leads us to alter, destroy or attempt to eternalise. Historically bronze has been a cultural marker of decadence and power, being a medium reserved for classical portraits and religious monuments. When we deem an object worthy of a material we are tying a level of importance to it.

The seemingly inconsequential fragments of life in the form of decaying flora and wood, have been elevated in importance, perhaps to the status of a human. Yet they are a part of the constant appropriation of the natural world unfolds in the modern day.

The opportunity for this program emerged after I proposed an engagement program and creative initiative for the Arnhem Land Progress Association (ALPA) in Nhulunbuy. The project involved repurposing waste aluminum into sculptural art and the creation of a high end interior line.

I was tasked with designing, facilitating and reporting on an initial two-week program for a group of 18 Yolŋu participants. The goal was to learn the origins of aluminum from bauxite, learn the lost wax casting technique, adhere to safety protocols, and explore creativity to decipher if it is a stream of income for ALPA participants.

In 2022, myself, a contracted assistant and the ALPA team successfully executed the inaugural pilot of the casting and metalwork program with recycled aluminum. We encountered challenges related to cultural and language sensitivities, which required patience and careful navigation. For myself, it was essential to communicate and advocate for the technical process of lost-wax casting and not for stylistic guidance. My support is foundational for any safety queries of limitations of the process or material.

The program has evolved through three iterations, with the latest in late 2023. The participants landed on termite mound castings as a unique creation representative of their country. In the most recent iteration, participants led OH&S and the technical process with close supervision of myself and my assistant. In the last visit we also established a gallery shop, envisioned to sell aluminum castings of termite mounds as a high-end interior art line through various ecommerce channels. The coordinating and curating the space was a collaborative process. You can view 360-degree virtual tour accessible here: 360 Walkthrough

Our ongoing efforts will involve further iterations, leading up to an official opening of the commercial space in 2024 and an exhibition titled 'Bukuway' featuring Yolŋu work from the program is scheduled at Darwin Visual Arts. ALPA has responded to the success of this project by hiring an Ecommerce Manager to market and sell this unique line of termite mound castings online. This project will continue to develop in coming with the building of the metal casting facilities on site for the Yolŋu community.

Images top to bottom:

Yolŋu and Gunyangara community
Cast Termite Mound
Recycled Aluminium
2023

Quincy Yarrngu
Goanna protecting nest
Recycled Aluminium
2022

Moyamuya Mununggurr
RestingRoo
Recycled Aluminium
2023

Metal Pour led by Jacob in the ALPA Men’s Shed
2023

Wax working
2023

2021.

Crystal Waters Ecovillage | Queensland, Australia

Project: 4 week plan to design and deliver lost-wax casting workshops in recycled aluminium.

Objectives:

• Share the ancient practice of lost-wax casting

• Educate on recycling aluminium

• Skill exchange in the community

• Deliver workshops to the community and public utilising existing facilities

Part 1: Process design with existing facilities

• Lost-wax casting is a three stage material process; wax, investment mould, metal. This process was designed as a 2 day, 4 hours a day workshop

• Space provided by the Dream Plant, Crystal Waters in exchange for staff and resident training in aluminium casting

• Process order: creating from wax (sculptures, tools, jewelry, etc.); attach wax forms to wax tree; investment casting - create a mold with a ceramic shell; cure the ceramic mold / melt out the wax; pour molten aluminium

• In replacement of kiln to cook the investment moulds, we used the barbeque with a 4 hour firing time

Part 2: Building foundry

• See complete foundry in photograph no 8

• Built from a recycled gas cylinder, recycled steel, plaster of paris and crucible made from scrap metal

• Crucible is placed in the centre of the foundry, coals around and hot air projected to the centre to heat the crucible with cans to 650° - 750° degrees

• Melted aluminium is poured into the cooked investment moulds
  

Part 3: Delivering workshops

• Delivered 2 iterations of the 2 day workshops with Ioanna as the workshop host and facilitator with 1-2 assistants at a time

• Public booking and information page: link

• Members of the Crystal Waters community were encouraged to exchange skills or trade rather than do the class with booking fees

Outcomes:

• Workshops delivered to over 20 people, 10 based in the Crystal Waters community

• Over half of the community traded or skill exchanged for their participation

• Creations from the workshops included jewelry, small sculptures, car badge, didgeridoo holders, crystal wand and product prototypes

La Katia Artist Residency | Colombian Caribbean

Community challenge: How do we connect to waste as a resource?

Project: 3 week project to transform this community’s biggest waste product (aluminum cans) into a resource for creative expression.

Part 1: Building Aluminium Foundry

• Materials sourced from scrapyard

• Creating a furnace as the center of the heat and a crucible, the vessel to hold the melted can

• Heat powered with hot air and coal

Part 2: Lost Wax Casting

• Create wax forms (sculptures, tools, jewelry, etc.)

• Attach wax forms to wax tree

• Investment casting - create a mold with a ceramic shell

• Cure the ceramic mold / melt out the wax

• Pour aluminium

Outcomes:

• Workshops run for the local community (designers, engineers and artists visited)

• Process established for transferring aluminium cans into a valuable material

• Exposure to the casting technique and a new creative process