Born in 1968 in Germany, Johanna Zellmer lives and works in Sweden, Germany and Aotearoa/New Zealand. She completed a formal apprenticeship as a goldsmith in Frankfurt, Germany in 1991, and an MA (Visual Arts) in metalsmithing at the Australian National University in 1999, before becoming Principal Lecturer, Postgraduate and Artist-in-Residence Coordinator at the Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand, positions she held from 2000-2021. In 2019 she was granted Sweden’s esteemed IASPIS residency in 2019, and completed a PhD in Fine Arts at Massey University, Aotearoa, New Zealand in 2024. She is currently Senior Lecturer, HDK-Valand (Academy of Art & Design), Gothenburg University, Sweden. Her work is held in public collections globally.
Zeller’s international touring exhibition ‘forged’ (2015-2017), along with the publication of a book, led her to the key ideas that underpin her practice: The paradigms of biopolitics, identity and surveillance. Her work has been presented in New Zealand’s TVONE series Neighbourhood and was selected for the national Parkin Drawing Prize. In 2019, upon invitation, she became a grant holder of Sweden’s esteemed IASPIS programme and spent three months in residency at Konstepidemin in Gothenburg, where she explored the transformation of DNA sequencing waste products. During this time, she curated Allotropic in Munich, Germany, a jewellery and photography showcase about migration, capitalism, genome technology and identity.
Zellmer’s work is held in public collections nationally and internationally and was sought in 2024 by the curatorial team of the exhibition Madrugada – Jewelry and the Politics of Hope at MUDE Design Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. Her research projects are extensively published and frequently discussed by Munich-based, Indian philosopher Dr Pravu Mazumdar. Johanna is a current PhD candidate at the Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts, Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand.
Zellmer is the co-founder of C/LINKProject, a collective intervention based on the values of craft education; public interaction; gifting and exchange; and collaboration in the field of contemporary jewellery.
Her work in education and as a practitioner is published by Springer Nature in their series Craft—The Hand of the Creator, Celebration and Revival: Educating in the Crafts—The Global Experience.