Janine Combes, Australia

Janine Combes works in an off-grid studio on Bruny Island, Australia, making a wearable range of jewelry for galleries while at the same time completing a Master of Fine Arts (Research). She has been a professional jeweler for thirteen years and has studied in Italy, Bangkok, and Australia.

In these works, I write into metals, creating fragments of what I call ‘torn text’, a technique which enables me to add depth, context, and my voice to them. Emulating the edges of letters or diaries these fragments explore the truth of history, place, and our footprint on this earth. I use language as it speaks place, it helps us to construct the past, but it can also question the type of future we want.