Sarah Anne Johnson’s work has been apart of a number of group exhibitions at The New York Public Library, New York, NY; Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Canada; Musée International des Arts Modestes, Sète, France; and the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, among many others. Her work is held in permanent collections across the globe, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa, Canada; Musée départemental d’art contemporain de Rochechouart, France; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., among others. In 2019, “TFH” by Johnson was prominently featured in the film “The Idea of You,” starring Anne Hathaway and directed by Michael Showalter. The artist received her BFA from the University of Manitoba and her MFA from Yale University. Johnson lives and works in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Sarah Anne Johnson (Canadian, b. 1976)
Sarah Anne Johnson (b. 1976; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) creates images that aim to capture not just a moment in time, but the experience and emotion of a place. In her series Woodland, Johnson takes photos of the Manitoba woods near her home, then alters them digitally and manually, using Photoshop, paint, and foil to add bright spots of color and shine between tree branches and tangles of foliage. The resulting kaleidoscopic images are dreamy, psychedelic, and whimsical. Johnson's work rejects the notion that photographs capture reality, suggesting instead, with a child-like innocence, that there is a world beyond what can be seen through a lens.
To achieve this sense of transcendence, Johnson incorporates indigenous knowledge, plant biology, and the impacts of nature on ancient architecture. The artist's works are spiritual and utopian, drawing influence from Canada's Group of Seven painters and the Hudson River School, both of whom depicted North America's landscapes as akin to the cathedrals of Europe. The artist presents a dichotomy between reality and perception, evoking feelings of tranquility and happiness, pleasure and calm, as well as a connection to the landscape and a sense of belonging in nature.