Instagram story viewer> @cara__johnson> Posts

Cara Johnson

@cara__johnson

3.2K

followers

1155

following

Gallery Funaki (inquiries)
Pastures @royalbotanicgardensvic
Toxibilities @_steneby_
Gadubanud country
Growing plants @otwaygreening 🌱

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Brolga 2026 an old rake, baling twine made into string, paint

currently in my show ‘I love you all the same’ @funakigallery

photo by Fred @fotokroh
thank yiu to @rossannels for helping me to drill the holes taken in Funaki by @cara__johnson

181

8

7 months ago

Flock III (detail) 2024
feathers from chickens I’ve loved, thread from stock feed bags and unravelled silage netting

this piece along with two others in the series is part of Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables which opens tomorrow evening @trartgalleries I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be part of this show - thank you to the judges of the award and the wonderful staff at Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery 🤍

my daughter took this photo in our chicken coop taken in Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery by @cara__johnson

374

45

a year ago

The amount of dirt my daughter and I can hold 2025-2026 iron

my daughter and I each fromed a clump of dirt in our hands and I then welded around the forms with very fine iron wire, recording each contour and indentation

once encased I soaked the dirt out, returning it to the ground, leaving hollow vessels that hold place and a time when my daughters hands were this much smaller than my own

‘I love you all the same’ opens today @funakigallery this was the first peice I decided to make for this show

photo by Fred @fotokroh
held with my daughter by @cara__johnson

182

28

7 months ago

I will be sewing pillows for sheep @royalbotanicgardensvic this Thursday 12-4 and Friday 10-4

Pastures
2026
Mild steel, cast iron, wool packs, silage netting, baling twine, thread from stock feed bags, paint, grass clippings — collected on site with permission from RBGV.

Drawing together materials from the Gardens and rural landscapes, Pastures offers a quiet reflection on tending, shelter and the relationships between people, animals and the places they shape. Pastures reframes the hay cradle, an agricultural feeding structure, as an object of tenderness, and care. A steel frame is gradually filled with hand-sewn pillows (for sheep), the small pillows are stuffed with grass clippings and made from lanolin infused, worn out wool packs. Johnson’s process reworks agricultural refuse into offerings of comfort, and by reimagining the Gardens’ lawns as “pasture” she reflects on broader ideas of control.

video and stills by Fred @fotokroh

Design X Nature is on until October 18 and is presented by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in association with Melbourne Fringe and RMIT University @melbfringe @royalbotanicgardensvic

Artist-in-residence - Pastures is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program, Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts Victoria @regionalartsvic taken in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria by @cara__johnson

111

9

8 days ago

Tether III 2023 tree guard, iron

currently a world away in Sweden, as part of a beautifully curated show called Toxibilities @conversationpiece_sthlm shown at @_steneby_

“The exhibition Toxibilities at Steneby Konsthall explores the entanglements of toxicity, disrupted environments, and bodies within a more-than-human world. The title – a portmanteau of toxic and invisibilities-abilities invites reflection on how harmful substances and systems can simultaneously destroy and transform, often operating unnoticed while actively shaping new realities, relationships, and futures.

The exhibition considers how we live with toxic conditions and how forms of becoming-with emerge within and beyond contaminated environments. Working across disciplinary boundaries, the participating artists, researchers, designers, and craft practitioners attend to the afterlives of extraction and industrial production. Their works engage with colonial histories, waste, environmental degradation, and possibilities for regeneration.

Toxibilities connects the local histories of the Dalsland region to broader geographies of pollution and resource extraction, tracing how these processes continue to unfold across time and place.”

Text by Conversation Piece

photo by Fred @fotokroh taken in Steneby Konsthall by @cara__johnson

132

11

13 days ago

tomorrow from 10-2 I’ll be sewing small pillows made from old wool packs for my work Pastures, which is currently in the Royal Botanic Gardens - the weather is looking a bit wet, so I’ll be undercover in the Drylands Pavilion if it’s raining. I’d love for you to come and say hello

Pastures
2026
Mild steel, cast iron, wool packs, silage netting, baling twine, thread from stock feed bags, paint, grass clippings — collected on site with permission from RBGV.

Drawing together materials from the Gardens and rural landscapes, Pastures offers a quiet reflection on tending, shelter and the relationships between people, animals and the places they shape. Pastures reframes the hay cradle, an agricultural feeding structure, as an object of tenderness, and care. A steel frame is gradually filled with hand-sewn pillows (for sheep), the small pillows are stuffed with grass clippings and made from lanolin infused, worn out wool packs. Johnson’s process reworks agricultural refuse into offerings of comfort, and by reimagining the Gardens’ lawns as “pasture” she reflects on broader ideas of control.

photo by Fred @fotokroh

Design X Nature is on until October 18 and is presented by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in association with Melbourne Fringe and RMIT University @melbfringe @royalbotanicgardensvic

Artist-in-residence - Pastures is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program, Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts Victoria @regionalartsvic taken in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria by @cara__johnson

98

3

19 days ago

Linger, notice, slow down 🍃😌

Design X Nature, as part of @melbFringe, has taken over the Australian Drylands at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne.

Featuring bespoke artworks from @softmeadowcollective, @courtney.coombs, @bepth_ & @cara__johnson it’s the perfect way to spend a spring afternoon.

Throughout the exhibition, the space will feature a series of walks, talks, and workshops, including nature journaling this Saturday (3 October 2026), not to be missed!

Then, welcome the longer evenings of daylight saving with a refreshing drink from the @brunswickaces Gin Pop-Up on selected dates throughout the exhibition, set amongst our stunning native flowering meadow. 🌼

To join an experience or for more information visit our link in bio 🔗

📸 @fotokroh by @cara__johnson

191

6

20 days ago

Pastures
2026
Mild steel, cast iron, wool packs, silage netting, baling twine, thread from stock feed bags, paint, grass clippings — collected on site with permission from RBGV.

Drawing together materials from the Gardens and rural landscapes, Pastures offers a quiet reflection on tending, shelter and the relationships between people, animals and the places they shape. Pastures reframes the hay cradle, an agricultural feeding structure, as an object of tenderness, and care. A steel frame is gradually filled with hand-sewn pillows (for sheep), the small pillows are stuffed with grass clippings and made from lanolin infused, worn out wool packs. Johnson’s process reworks agricultural refuse into offerings of comfort, and by reimagining the Gardens’ lawns as “pasture” she reflects on broader ideas of control.

photo by Fred @fotokroh

Design X Nature is on until October 18 and is presented by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in association with Melbourne Fringe and RMIT University @melbfringe @royalbotanicgardensvic

Artist-in-residence - Pastures is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program, Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts Victoria @regionalartsvic taken in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria by @cara__johnson

115

14

20 days ago

this is a snippet of my work Pastures that I installed today at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria - I reimagined the Gardens lawns as pasture.

I will be stitching alongside my sculpture on the 2nd, 9th and 16th of October - please come and say hello if you’re about.

Pastures 2026
Mild steel, cast iron, wool packs, silage netting, thread from stock feed bags, paint, grass clippings - collected on site with permission from RBGV

Design X Nature is on until October 18 and is presented by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria in association with Melbourne Fringe and RMIT University @melbfringe @royalbotanicgardensvic

Artist-in-residence - Pastures is supported by the Australian Government’s Arts and Cultural Development Program, Regional Arts Australia and Regional Arts Victoria @regionalartsvic taken in Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria by @cara__johnson

96

5

a month ago

Pastures II 2026 wool pack, willow, silage netting, baling twine

“Sometimes squalls roll over the paddocks, freezing wet winds that whip of the Southern Ocean. The few trees that sit outside the fenceline are bent to near breaking. Sheep huddle together in the mud, close, pressed up against the iron wired boundary.

My materials connect to a disconnect to land. They hold histories of control, and attempts to remedy — wool packs, silage netting, tree guards and willow. The plastics are highly processed, and I reprocess them with my hands, string making and bead making, old hand skills. Labour and care is how I honour, working from a place of tenderness, and sorrow.”

One of my works in Nature Machine: Tamworth Textile Triennial 2026, which is on now @tamworthregionalgallery curated by Blake Griffiths @blakegriffiths_ ✨

Photo by Fred @fotokroh taken in Tamworth Regional Gallery by @cara__johnson

127

9

a month ago

Pastures I 2026 wool packs, willow

“Sometimes squalls roll over the paddocks, freezing wet winds that whip of the Southern Ocean. The few trees that sit outside the fenceline are bent to near breaking. Sheep huddle together in the mud, close, pressed up against the iron wired boundary.

My materials connect to a disconnect to land. They hold histories of control, and attempts to remedy — wool packs, silage netting, tree guards and willow. The plastics are highly processed, and I reprocess them with my hands, string making and bead making, old hand skills. Labour and care is how I honour, working from a place of tenderness, and sorrow.”

One of my works in Nature Machine: Tamworth Textile Triennial 2026, which opens tonight @tamworthregionalgallery curated by Blake Griffiths @blakegriffiths_ ✨

Photo by Fred @fotokroh taken in Tamworth Regional Gallery by @cara__johnson

173

20

a month ago

tomorrow my daughter and I are heading up to Tamworth for the opening weekend of the Tamworth Textile Triennial 2026 @tamworthregionalgallery curated by @blakegriffiths_

(this is a detail of one of my pieces in the show)
Pastures II (detail) 2026
willow, wool pack, silage netting, baling twine
Image by Fred @fotokroh

I am thrilled to be a part of this show, and looking forward forward to meeting the other artists and people working at and visiting the gallery taken in Tamworth Regional Gallery by @cara__johnson

167

16

a month ago