Vivien Johnson facts for kids
Vivien Joan Johnson, born in 1949, is an Australian expert who studies people and society (a sociologist). She writes about and helps show Indigenous Australian art. She is also a curator (someone who organizes art shows), a teacher, and used to be in charge of the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. Vivien Johnson lives in Sydney. She often travels to Papunya, a place in Australia where much of her work happens. She is known for combining different ways of studying things, like how people live, how they think, and the history of art. She also works to protect the rights of Indigenous people regarding their culture and ideas.
What Vivien Johnson Has Done
Vivien Johnson has achieved many important things. In 1998, she became a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. This is a special honor for experts in humanities.
She has organized major art exhibitions. From 2003 to 2005, she curated a national tour of art by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri. From 2007 to 2008, she curated the Papunya Painting: out of the desert exhibition. This show was at the National Museum of Australia and traveled to Sydney and Beijing.
In 2005, she became a Professor at the University of New South Wales. She taught about new media and storytelling. As of 2021, she is an Adjunct Art and Design Professor there.
In 2020, Vivien Johnson became a fellow at the National Library of Australia. She researched how books were made in Papunya between 1974 and 1991.
She was a close friend of the artist Kumantje Jagamara. She spoke at his funeral in 2021.
Books and Articles
Vivien Johnson has written several important books about contemporary Indigenous Australian art. These books are often used as key references in the field.
Some of her notable books include:
- The art of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (1994)
- Western Desert Artists: A Biographical Dictionary (1995)
- Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists (2008)
- Once Upon a Time in Papunya (2010)
- Streets of Papunya : the re-invention of Papunya painting (2015)
She has also written more than 100 articles. These articles have appeared in both art magazines and academic journals.
