Clayton is an award-winning photographer and video journalist, who has also been a mixed media artist since 2016. He was a finalist in the Fine Art Category of the London International Creative Awards 2021 with Imaginata Australis.



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Clayton John

<h4
    id="h-clayton-john-writes-about-his-approach-to-art-and-spirituality-and-the-techniques-he-is-using-to-create-his-latest-series-imaginata-australis">
    <strong><span style="color: #0071a1">CLAYTON JOHN</span>
        writes about his approach to art and spirituality and the techniques he is
        using to create his latest series, <em>Imaginata Australis</em>.</strong>
</h4>

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<h2 class="text-center">
    <span style="color: #0071a1">An Art Essay</span>
</h2>

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    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/imaginata_australis2_9f098e096f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:07:05.067Z" />


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<p>
    A wise person once told me that the artistic inclination stands just shy of
    the spiritual. Unfortunately, for many years I perceived that comment in a
    negative light, construing it to mean something akin to “a pursuit of the
    artistic is less than ideal and hence pointless.”&nbsp;
</p>

<p>
    As I’ve grown older, I’ve slowly come to see that it is, in fact, the
    necessary integration of the artistic aspects of myself that permits
    expansion into the spiritual realm. It is as if the artistic is the apex of
    the material manifestation, accepting the limitations of that realm.
</p>

<p>
    As a consequence, I accept myself as also being limited. This is okay. It
    means I can fly free into my spiritual self.&nbsp;It has been a gift to
    accept the limited self through art, and in so doing, permit the unlimited
    self, the spiritual self, to fly unshackled. If, by grace, treasures from
    the&nbsp;brighter side are brought back, they might be rendered material.
</p>

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<img decoding="async" width="600" height="745" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/imaginata_australis3_0dd6ecb922.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:08:16.415Z" />


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<p>
    Currently I am creating a series of works that I see as “landscapes of the
    mind.”&nbsp;The series is called <em>Imaginata Australis</em>, which
    translates as Imaginary Southern Land.&nbsp;It was prompted by&nbsp;the
    Covid lock down and the realities of circumscribed travel.&nbsp;
</p>

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<img decoding="async" width="600" height="609" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/imaginata_australis4_198aa27518.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:09:15.111Z" />


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<p>
    I began to experiment, starting with the creation of backgrounds, for which
    I use a variety of mediums – plaster, slacked lime, oxide washes and pigment
    washes.&nbsp;
</p>

<p>
    I also began to “build” trees using whatever caught my eye on the permitted
    daily walks.&nbsp;I would cover these bush pickings with beeswax, then use
    metallic gold pigment to rub into the wax, so that a high, golden sheen
    remained.&nbsp;
</p>

<p>
    I would then photograph these tree elements and the created
    backgrounds.&nbsp;I then bring them together into a digital collage.&nbsp;
</p>

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<img decoding="async" width="600" height="604" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/imaginata_australis5_b2c8c361c3.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:10:14.695Z" />


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<p>
    The fusion of elements that often stand at odds with each other is an aspect
    that attracts me in life, just as much as in art. Trying to make the
    disparate whole goes for myself as much as for the world outside.
</p>

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<img decoding="async" width="600" height="599" alt="" class="lazyload has-img-center"
    src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/imaginata_australis6_4416c4749b.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T12:11:21.199Z" />


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<h4 class="text-center">Art by CLAYTON JOHN</h4>

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Imaginata Australis


      <h4
      class="block-heading"
      id="h-clayton-john-s-latest-series-larapinta-dreaming-was-inspired-by-a-fundraising-walk-on-the-larapinta-trail-in-northern-australia-near-alice-springs-and-uluru-clayton-is-currently-showing-these-artworks-at-the-linton-kay-gallery-in-subiaco-perth-australia-you-can-also-visit-his-work-on-instagram-at-clayton_images"
    >
      <strong
        ><mark
          style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); color: #aa2323"
         
          >CLAYTON JOHN</mark
        ></strong
      >‘s<strong> </strong>latest series, Larapinta Dreaming, was inspired by
      a fundraising walk on the Larapinta Trail in northern Australia, near
      Alice Springs and Uluru. Clayton is currently showing these artworks at
      the Linton &amp; Kay Gallery in Subiaco, Perth, Australia. You can also
      visit his work on Instagram at @clayton_images.
    </h4>

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    <h3
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      id="h-an-art-essay"
      style="color: #c87a43"
    >
      AN ART ESSAY
    </h3>

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    <p>
      In July 2022, I walked the Larapinta Trail in the center of Australia
      near Alice Springs. It was a fundraising walk for the environmental NGO,
      The Climate Council.
    </p>

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      <figure>
        <img
          alt=""
          class="lazyload has-img-center"
          src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/larapinta_dreaming2_8a168a7253.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T06:14:12.639Z"
        />
      </figure>
    </div>

    <p>
      The Larapinta, which literally means “salty water” in Arrernte (the
      local Indigenous language), is thought to be the oldest riverbed on
      planet Earth. Some of the gorges on the trail are home to up to 60,000
      rock carvings or petroglyphs, made by the first Australians during two
      distinct time periods – 10,000 years ago and 3,000 years ago. They made
      these carvings by hitting one rock with another and gradually chipping
      away at a large flat rock surface.
    </p>

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    <h4 class="has-text-align-center block-heading">
      <mark
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        >To honor nature is to honor ourselves, </mark
      ><br /><mark
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        >honor in equality and reverence </mark
      ><br /><mark
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        >rather than in dominance.</mark
      >
    </h4>

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    <p>
      The really fascinating thing is the idea that the <em>same</em> creation
      stories have been told on that country for all that time. The characters
      in the stories and the petroglyphs are the same as those told to young
      Arrernte girls and boys today.&nbsp; The <em>tjukurrpa</em> (dreamtime
      story) of the Arrernte revolves around the caterpillar as the central
      creation being.&nbsp; This got me thinking of the story of
      Kakabhushundi, the sage in the ancient Hindu texts who transformed into
      a crow and chose to live out his days in that form. He was the first
      person to narrate the Ramayana and, being immortal, will remain alive on
      Earth until the end of its existence.&nbsp;
    </p>

    <p>
      These parallel stories got me thinking just how circumscribed our
      creativity and inventiveness have become under our modern systems of
      education – why not a crow or a caterpillar as the central character in
      our texts?&nbsp; How human-centric have we made this world, removed
      farther and farther from nature. When once nature was the grand narrator
      (and animator) of our ancient cultures of this Earth, now it is humans.
      How we have strayed from the source…
    </p>

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      <figure>
        <img
          alt="larapinta-dreaming3"
          class="lazyload has-img-center"
          src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/larapinta_dreaming3_986d423917.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T06:15:38.227Z"
        />
      </figure>
    </div>

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    <div class="block-image">
      <figure>
        <img
          alt="larapinta-dreaming5"
          class="lazyload has-img-center"
          src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/larapinta_dreaming5_c75b9654e5.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T06:16:21.057Z"
        />
      </figure>
    </div>

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    <p>
      The comment of one of my spiritual Guides, Chariji, “God made man in His
      image whereas the tragedy of the modern world is that man has made God
      in his image,” comes quickly to mind.
    </p>

    <p>
      How fitting then is the Principle, “Simplify your life so as to be
      identical with Nature.” It strikes me as the quintessential call of the
      hour. To honor nature is to honor ourselves, honor in equality and
      reverence rather than in dominance.
    </p>

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    <div class="block-image">
      <figure>
        <img
          alt="larapinta-dreaming6"
          class="lazyload has-img-center"
          src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/larapinta_dreaming6_7b44e3d601.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-13T06:17:14.135Z"
        />
      </figure>
    </div>

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    <h4 class="has-text-align-center block-heading">
      Artworks by CLAYTON JOHN
    </h4>

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Clayton John

Clayton is an award-winning photographer and video journalist, who has also been a mixed media artist since 2016. He was a finalist in the Fine Art Category of the London International Creative Awards 2021 with Imaginata Australis.

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