Jo Ryan: The Pearl Diver’s Dream
3 December 2025
Art Almanac

In The Pearl Diver’s Dream, Melbourne-based artist Jo Ryan presents paintings, drawing, stencils, woodblock prints, sculpture, and wall-mounted decorative mirrors.

For the artist, this exhibition’s journey began many years ago, after becoming enamoured by painting and print interpretations of Katsushika Hokusai’s The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, 1814. Erotically charged and sensual, these interpretations held an uncomfortable dominance about them that lingered for the artist – leading to this artist’s own interpretation of Hokusai’s work. Here is the story of the Pearl Diver: her dreams, thoughts, and reflections on life.

Art Almanac Dec 25/Jan 26