Elverina Johnson
Born & Lives in:
Yarrabah, Australia
Location
- Art Gallery of New South Wales
Elverina Johnson is a highly respected Gungganji and Gimuy Walubara Yidinji artist from Yarrabah (Far North Queensland). With over 30 years of experience in the arts industry, Johnson is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, fashion as well as music and performing arts. Having worked with youth and Elders over the years to promote cultural respect and integrity, Elverina Johnson’s practice expresses a deep and innate understanding of Country that honours the traditions and stories belonging to her culture and ancestral homelands.
Elverina Johnson, Footprints, 2025. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from Vicki Olsson. Courtesy the artist © Elverina Johnson. Installation view, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, 2026, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.
Elverina Johnson, Old Home, 2025. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from Vicki Olsson. Courtesy the artist © Elverina Johnson. Installation view, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, 2026, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.
Elverina Johnson, Untangle, 2025. Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from Vicki Olsson. Courtesy the artist © Elverina Johnson. Installation view, 25th Biennale of Sydney, Rememory, 2026, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo © Art Gallery of New South Wales, Felicity Jenkins.
Elverina Johnson
Born 1968, Yarrabah, Australia
Lives and works in Yarrabah Gungganji/Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Rainforest region
Footprints 2025
synthetic polymer paint and molding paste on canvas
Untangle 2025
synthetic polymer paint and fishing line on canvas
Old home 2025
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous support from Vicki Olsson
Courtesy of the artist
Elverina Johnson is an artist and fashion designer from Yarrabah, Far North Queensland, who tells stories of family, collective memory and identity through her multidisciplinary practice. She is a direct descendant of King Menmuny, a senior leader of the Gungganji nation, and King Yinnie, a respected leader of the Yidinji people in the Gimuy/Cairns area.
These three works are based on stories told to Johnson by her grandmother and mother, and on her own childhood memories of growing up in Yarrabah. The paintings embody the coded visual motifs and sacred language of matrilineal knowledge, passed down through conversation and expressed on canvas. Here, Johnson shares her stories through layers of memory, spread across time.