JOSHUA BONSON | SKIN - Moving Through Monochrome

SKIN – Moving through Monochrome
Joshua Bonson
2 – 23 August 2025

Art Leven is proud to present SKIN – Moving through Monochrome, a bold new body of work by Torres Strait Islander artist Joshua Bonson. This exhibition marks a significant evolution in Bonson’s practice, his first major series since relocating from Darwin to Cairns to work full time as an artist. With this personal and professional shift comes a visual transformation: a move into a monochromatic palette that strips away colour to focus on form, texture, and the emotional resonance of light and shadow.

At the core of SKIN is Bonson’s totem, the Saltwater Crocodile, a powerful symbol of identity, heritage, and place. His works have long explored the reptile’s protective skin as a metaphor for ancestral strength, kinship, and cultural memory. In this series, that imagery is reinterpreted through dynamic compositions rendered in black and white. These works feel elemental and raw, yet deeply refined, inviting viewers into an intimate dialogue with Bonson’s cultural and personal landscape.

Using palette knives, brushes, and his hands, Bonson builds tactile surfaces that seem to breathe with energy. The scale-like markings, layered textures, and flowing forms speak to Country and sea, to memory and movement. Though abstract in appearance, each work holds specific meaning: they are meditations on belonging, portraits of family ties, and stories that transcend language.

Bonson’s shift to monochrome also signals a deeper engagement with spirit. The absence of colour allows space for reflection, for both artist and audience. Light becomes a medium in itself, animating each work as it moves across the surface, revealing subtle shifts in tone, depth, and emotion.

SKIN – Moving through Monochrome is an exhibition of reconnection and renewal. It reflects Bonson’s willingness to embrace change, to honour the past while exploring new visual and personal territories.

In this remarkable series, Bonson invites us to slow down, to look closely, and to feel, offering a space of openness and quiet power. Each work is a window into his journey, but also a mirror—one that reflects our own capacity for connection, transformation, and story.