Joy Hopwood

“The Joy of Life”

One of my favourite childhood games was the Sesame Street song, ‘who are the people in your neighbourhood?’ a catchy tune that taught us tolerance for the diverse and colourful world in which we inhabit. Looking at these paintings by Joy Hopwood, it is of no surprise then to learn she was the first Asian face on the popular ABC television program Play School and is a celebrated illustrator of children’s books.

While Joy’s naïve style is not unique, it has sincerity in the way it chronicles her stories with hand-scrolled notes tagging the picture frames aka the pages of a photo album or the contemporary phenomena of ‘scrap-booking’. Offset against a black background the narrative becomes dramatic, cast like the storyboard of a film. Is it role-playing or do these paintings offer bite sized triggers - ‘windows’ - to a more complex reading of Australian identity, culture and mythology?

Take for example Joy’s painting “Postcards of a Fortunate Life”. We can easily adopt it as our own: family, romance, Sydney skies and beaches.  They are familiar scenes. In a similar way “Life’s a Ball” takes the common ground of sport, and our particular obsession with it in Australia in shaping our identity, and weaves it into one-line lessons on life. Tile by tile, frame by frame, Joy’s offers a most astute view on contemporary Australian society.

Joy expanded that cultural dialogue in May 2010 where she performed in ‘Stories of East and West’ directed by William Yang and produced by Annette Shun Wah. And for 2010, she has been one of Mission Australia’s ambassadors for their Hush campaign.