Jo Chew lives and works in Hobart, her paintings explore ideas of vulnerability, loss, hopefulness and longing. Aware of the absent origin inherent in collage (Krauss), the process of composing many of her paintings through collage harnesses ideas of exile or the nomadic, but also of restoration and mending through bringing together these ‘exiled’ fragments into the new home of the painted space. Chew’s work has been exhibited in Hobart, Launceston, and Sydney; she was the recipient of a 12-month fellowship through ADM in Sydney in 2017; and was a finalist in the Bruny18 and the Henry Jones Art Prize.
Jo completed her Honours in Painting in 2018 and is currently undertaking a PhD in painting at the University of Tasmania. Her exhibition ‘The Wanderer, the Fool, and the Refuge’ opens on February 6, 2019.
[photo by Rémi Chauvin]