Carefree days: Jo-Ann Hunt's The Child Within series evokes memories of a more innocent age.
SUPPLIED
Mention long, lazy summers spent by the bay to any Melburnian and watch their eyes soften as the hit of nostalgia kicks in.
It is this longing for a simpler time that Jo-Ann Hunt, a Melbourne-based artist, captures in her latest series of paintings, titled The Child Within.
“My favourite aspect of summer is the freedom,” says Hunt. “It’s the happiness and the open air. It’s the no commitments.”
And it’s for this reason that children make the perfect muses in Hunt’s pieces.
“I love watching kids. I like their optimism and energy. Especially the kids between five and 12 – I like to call it ‘the wonder years’. They have no preconceived ideas of what the world is or what it should be,” she
says wistfully.
The children featured in Hunt’s work are not based on any child in particular.
Rather, each is a representation of a recollection of her childhood summers spent in Point Henry, coupled with memories of raising her children.
“When I was young we just spent the whole summer in swimwear just running wild, doing what we wanted,” she says.
Each piece highlights the “gangly and awkward years” Hunt finds so endearing.
“I really wanted to capture the years where kids are outgrowing their bodies, their clothes are either too big or small and they’re clumsy,” she says, laughing.
Hunt intends to spend her summer somewhere along the coast. Her intimate connection with Melbourne’s beaches, from Ocean Grove to the Mornington Peninsula, resonates strongly with her and shines through her work.
www.jo-annhunt.blogspot.com
www.suburban312.com.au/artist/48/