Talking With Painters

Joanna Braithwaite grew up in Pleasant Point, a small country town in New Zealand, and has been living in Australia for over 16 years. In the last few weeks she has been named as a finalist in both the Sulman and Mosman art prizes and has been a finalist in many more including the Archibald and Portia Geach prizes. Her solo exhibition ‘Social Animal’ is currently showing at Martin Browne Contemporary in Sydney’s Paddington. Although Joanna’s work includes paintings with figures and still life, it’s safe to say her predominant subject is that of animals. From birds, reptiles and fish to bears horses, elephants, sloths and particularly dogs, Joanna has expertly captured creatures in paint. But she hasn’t just represented them as we find them in the world as you can see from these images and you will hear all about her approach in this interview. We talk about the lengths to which she went to study the anatomy of animals in her early art career including a trip to an abbatoir. She also talks ab