Janna Yotte
@jannayotte

A photographer and graphic designer by training, Janna turned to fine art in a self-taught way when she made her first collages in 2017. Cutting out publications of all kinds, she assembled a few hundred works that quickly garnered attention for their clean aesthetic and intriguing contrast. These pieces have been exhibited in Montreal, New York, Maastrich and Toronto.

In 2018, she unveiled Biotopia, presenting for the first time serial collages inspired by nature and femininity. The artist subsequently deepens her research into the relationship between the transforming human and nature. This exploration led to her Exuvies series, which for the first time assembled new beings made of human organs, snakes and mushrooms, to which she added embroidery interventions and three-dimensional assemblages. The body of work was exhibited in 2019 at Artch, a pivotal event in the emerging artist's learning and career. Now, Janna is fully dedicated to assembling new bodies as well as incorporating new mediums complementary to collage. Since 2021, her work has been represented by the Institut National, and will be shown for the first time in a solo exhibition in new territories in 2022 at the Revelstoke Art Center.

In parallel to her personal practice, the artist also works on editorial mandates for C2 Montreal, Caribou magazine, Yardley London, Dress to Kill and ELLE magazine, to whom her work has been published in many countries such as England, Australia, Korea, Japan, Norway, Hungary, Taiwan, Ukraine, Germany, Netherlands and China. Since 2020, Janna has been teaching creative techniques at Salette College as well as marketing for the photographers at Marsan College.

Photo : Alex Tran

Artistic approach
Janna Yotte specializes in collage, placing botanical books, obsolete medical specs and trendy fashion magazines under her scalpel. An expert in extracting specimens, limbs, organs and other living things (in whole or in part), she reassembles pieces into improbable, natural sets, where strangeness does not affect their beauty. Tempering disproportion and surrealism with meticulous découpage and thematic, geometric coherence, the compositions contrast on several levels: they seem fragile, though their presence is imposing; they are delicate and refined, yet shameless, even disturbing. The compositions raise questions, although we are quick to admire and accept them as they reveal themselves to us. Their contradictory forces give each work a disarming but reassuring familiarity, just like (human) nature.

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Selection of artworks