Joanna Ham Celebrates the Everyday in Two Very Different Ways
Our editor at large Katie Treggiden talks to London-based artist and designer Jo Ham.
In the fourth of our new monthly series profiling designers based in the UK and Europe, our editor at large Katie Treggiden talks to London-based artist and designer Jo Ham.
Jo Ham is best known for HAM, her brand of design-led homewares and paper goods featuring the escapades of Rabbit, a silhouetted black bunny with endearingly human habits. But she is also a fine artist and, under the name ?Joanna Ham?, she creates complex screen-printed photograms that explore what it means to be a woman in today’s society. The two bodies of work might seem very different, but they have more in common than first meets the eye.
“They are both a form of social commentary, both feature a character in silhouette, and in both cases, how they?re read changes from person to person,” says Jo. “Someone might say one reminds them of a friend or a sibling, others see playfulness, aspiration, beauty ? it depends what they’re going through at the time ? and it is absolutely about what you feel, not what you?re supposed to feel.”
“For this reason, my characters rarely meet your gaze,” she explains. “The rabbits don’t have facial features and the women’s faces are often obscured by glasses, or hands, or are turned away. I don?t want them to engage with you directly ? I prefer them to be lost in their own thoughts or actions. B...
In the fourth of our new monthly series profiling designers based in the UK and Europe, our editor at large Katie Treggiden talks to London-based artist and designer Jo Ham.
Jo Ham is best known for HAM, her brand of design-led homewares and paper goods featuring the escapades of Rabbit, a silhouetted black bunny with endearingly human habits. But she is also a fine artist and, under the name ?Joanna Ham?, she creates complex screen-printed photograms that explore what it means to be a woman in today’s society. The two bodies of work might seem very different, but they have more in common than first meets the eye.
“They are both a form of social commentary, both feature a character in silhouette, and in both cases, how they?re read changes from person to person,” says Jo. “Someone might say one reminds them of a friend or a sibling, others see playfulness, aspiration, beauty ? it depends what they’re going through at the time ? and it is absolutely about what you feel, not what you?re supposed to feel.”
“For this reason, my characters rarely meet your gaze,” she explains. “The rabbits don’t have facial features and the women’s faces are often obscured by glasses, or hands, or are turned away. I don?t want them to engage with you directly ? I prefer them to be lost in their own thoughts or actions. B...
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