Henrietta Johns

Henrietta Johns is a multi-disciplinary artist and maker based in London, specialising in the conceptual, sculptural, hand-crafted object.

Henrietta's practice focuses on abstract woven form, built upon her traditional education in woven textile making. After completing her Bachelor's degree in Textile Design at Central Saint Martins in 2018, Henrietta refocused her understanding and knowledge of woven structure to address weaving as a medium for contemporary sculpture.

Now recently graduated for her Masters in Textiles at the Royal College of Art in 2023, her works are rooted in ecological perspective, the human/nonhuman exchange, identity, and a recently developed interest in internal self reflection.

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Degree Details

‘I Confess…’ is an ongoing collection of conceptual sculptural objects that have acted as a form of documentation. Each object embodies a deeply personal story, and as a collection they hold a physical presence of an unfolding autobiographical journey of grief, trauma, a psychotic episode, a bipolar diagnosis and… is to be continued.

‘Death Does Not Cradle’ explores the conflict between the actuality of losing someone you love, and watching their pain in trying to survive. The tiny cluster of 12 steel beads sit heavy and cold, nestling in the crossed arms of death as it looms over, it’s height indicative of it’s power.

Medium: Linen, Steel

‘Touch Me Not’, namesake of the plant Mimosa Pudica, also known as the Shame-plant, is a woven tapestry triptych. Each banner displaying a statement of my psychosis. Tightly rolled, an inability to let go of shame.

Medium: Shetland Wool

‘I Feel Like I Know You From Somewhere…’ depicts an emotional distance to oneself after receiving a bipolar diagnosis. Captured on film to mirror an experience of depersonalisation. I couldn’t come to terms with being this person I didn’t know.

Medium: Linen, Lead

Entitled ‘The Selfish Child’, this work explores the dynamic between mother and child, and the significance of the presence of that relationship during my mother’s illness. The mother and the child. The mother’s illness pregnant with the child’s pain.