Sandra Johnston

Hold In

Sandra Johnston has practiced internationally since 1992, working predominantly in the areas of site-responsive performance and installation. Her actions have often involved exploring the aftermath of trauma through developing acts of commemoration as forms of testimony and empathetic encounter. She has held various teaching and research posts and has just returned to teach at Belfast School of Art. Her practice-based investigation into issues of ‘trauma of place’ were extended as a PhD project entitled – Beyond Reasonable Doubt: An Investigation of Doubt, Risk and Testimony Through Performance Art Processes in Relation to Systems of Legal Justice published in 2013. She has been a co-founder and committee member of various artist-run collectives in Belfast, notably: CATALYST ARTS and BBEYOND. Some of her most recent performances and projects include: Here-to-Here, Notwithstanding, Fierce Festival 2019, Birmingham, UK; the Biennial of Curitiba and p.ARTE Festival 2019, Brazil; Asiatopia 20th Performance Festival, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018; Live Action 13, Gothenburg, Sweden 2018; Minimal, Poor, Present, as part of Glasgow International 2018, Scotland We Shout and Shout, But No One Listens: Art from Conflict Zones, CAMP/ Center for Art on Migration Politics, Copenhagen, Denmark 2017; Rise Up: Ending Racism, Poverty and War, part of Freedom City Newcastle upon Tyne, England 2017; and Future Histories, Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin 2016.