Sarah Anne Johnson

"I've always felt a deep frustration with the limitations of photography and what I can do with it, but I'm evolving in how I deal with that. I'm thinking more and more about the importance of having personal risk in your art."  2011 

Sarah Anne Johnson’s photography, drawings, paintings and sculpture explore the real world and imaginary places. In some works, she mixes the two by creating dioramas to recreate scenes for the camera or painting on her photographs. 

Johnson graduated from the University of Manitoba in 2002 with a fine arts degree and completed an MFA at the Yale School of Art in 2004. She participated in an artists’ residency on board an Arctic sailing ship in 2009, which is the basis of her Arctic Wonderland series.

For Johnson, key themes are adventure, spiritual fulfillment and community found in labour. From tree planting in northern Manitoba to working in the Galapagos Islands, her experiences are featured in her work. In 2008, Johnson won the Grange Prize for Contemporary Photography.