About

Johanna Zellmer is a Senior lecturer at HDK-Valand, Academy of Art and Design at the University of Gothenburg. Born in Friedberg/ Germany in 1968, Johanna initially completed a goldsmith’s apprenticeship in Frankfurt a. M. She holds a PhD in Fine Arts from Toi Rauwhārangi, Massey University, New Zealand and a Master of Arts (VA) in metalsmithing at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. 

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The affective nature of jewellery as medium of embodied knowledge and the increasing standardisation of life and identity production in society have informed her work for over 25 years. She is passionate about craft education that advocates material experimentation, gifting and exchange, collaboration and public interaction. This passion led to co-founding C/LINKProject in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

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Informed by science and multidisciplinary in nature, her own practice draws on the potential of jewellery objects as a medium of socio-political knowledge and instruments of identity politics. Her research operates at the intersection of ethics, science, biopolitics, the application of technology and contemporary jewellery. She considers adornment as a statement of politics and humanity.

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In 2024 two series of objects were sought by the curatorial team of the exhibition Madrugada – Jewelry and the Politics of Hope at MUDE Design Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. Her work is held in public collections nationally and internationally and is published by SpringerNature in their series Educating in the Crafts—The Global Experience.