olivia johnston

In celebration of my 30th birthday last August, I reached out to @olijohn with an idea for a portrait session. I wanted to commemorate a new decade of life with an image of self that would reflect my current form and serve as a reminder of how much that form has changed through an act of self-determination and autonomy over my body. 2026 marks 5 years since I began hormone replacement therapy (HRT) through services available at Centretown Community Health Centre; something I consider to be one of the greatest gifts I could have ever received. HRT has fundamentally shifted my relationship with myself. I feel more secure in my sense of self than ever before, and it has been a true joy to grow into the woman that I am. I’m so grateful to be a woman in her 30s, I am so grateful for HRT, and I am endlessly grateful to be in community with so many exceptional women. Thank you, Olivia for embracing this project, and for your incredible insight throughout the process!

two lovely things next week - firstly, myself and the other folks in the mfa at @visualartsuottawa are presenting 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙗𝙟𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙨 at @gallery115 march 16-26. this is a show “centred around process-based works, studio curiosities, dead ends, false starts and other beginnings.” always the greatest joy to collaborate with this beautiful and talented group of humans, hope to see you at the opening on tuesday march 17 from 5-7pm. if not the show is on view until mar 26! congrats to us @lea.eva.woo @jake_legouffe @aash.barbu @androgynousmuppet @555arah @karendmillerstudio @marc_nerbonne @gunsuhayriyeozan @washingmachine_art @mina.moshajjari secondly, I’m very excited to be flying down to atlanta next week to present on a panel at @spenational ! the brilliant nika mckagen (@1889__lover ) has included myself as well as @nadiasablin @kelsey_sucena and @diamond__lil on the panel “Photography as Invocation: Mysticism, Gender, and the Act of Self-Authorization,” which will explore mysticism, gender, and photography as an act of resistance and self-authorization. I’m very much looking forward to sharing space with these folks, attending other panellists’ presentations, and meeting more of the @spenational community. photo dump of related images interspersed with 2026 life so far ✨ and memes, always memes

final days to visit FLOWER POWER, me and Neeko’s exhibition at the @diefenbunker 🌼 the show ends on February 1! here are some photos of the installation as well as a snippet of our radio interview that played on All in a Day with Alan Neal on Jan 20. special thanks to Jessa for the interview and @nick___schofield for his collaboration in providing such effective music for my piece. to close out the show, here’s the short speech I read at our private opening in November. “For Neeko and I, growing up in the 90s, the term ‘flower power’ floated around, an echo not only of the Vietnam war protests of the 1960s but also a reminder that post Cold War, peace was imminent, a promise even. Capitalism would save us. When I was a girl, I was asked once what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said, ‘a tree’. The adults in my life laughed, but why not? Why isn’t the slowness, the generosity, the beauty of the earth something we should aspire to? Secret Garden, the work I made for Flower Power was made for the girl I was in the 90s and 2000s, the girl who was fiercely justice-minded and loved the earth, animals, and didn’t understand why any people anywhere had to suffer. In making this piece, I’ve reconnected with her - and in doing so, am reminded anew that peace is not a stillness, but a series of actions. We must work towards peace every day through building community, justice, and caring for each other and the planet.”

We’re heading to Atlanta for the 2026 SPE Annual Conference: Catalyst for Exchange, happening March 19–21, 2026 at the Courtland Grand Hotel! Sessions include “Photography as Invocation: Mysticism, Gender, and the Act of Self-Authorization,” a panel exploring mysticism, gender, and photography as an act of resistance and self-authorization, featuring Nika McKagen, Nadia Sablin, Olivia Johnston, Lily Lagrange, and Kelsey Sucena. Register at the link in bio and follow @1889__lover , @nadiasablin , @diamond__lil , @olijohn for more! #spe #photoconference #speatlanta

hello friends! as many of you know I’m currently in the swamp that is an MFA, trying to figure out what the heck it is that I’m doing here and how to get through. next friday me and my beautiful, wonderful, amazing cohort are hosting an OPEN STUDIOS at uOttawa and we would be delighted for you to come see the swamps we have been wading through this semester. honestly it will not disappoint, I am in awe of the talent, generosity, and brilliance of these folks. put this one in your calendars folks! dec 12 from 6-9 at 100 laurier. ✨ poster drawn by @jake_legouffe and design by @gunsuhayriyeozan ✨ok back to the swamp 🧌

so so soooo very excited to be on the decks this friday from 7-11 DJing at the @spaocentre open house!! I could write something long and heartfelt about how much SPAO means to me and how it shaped me as an artist and a human, but instead I’ll say: LETS DANNNNNNCEEEE!!!! this party is free and open to the public!!! ✨

Hello! Olivia Johnston (@olijohn ) here with the final post in my takeover of the @visualartsuottawa account. Today, I’ll share a little bit about what I’ve been up to in the studios at 100 Laurier! Beginning in 2019, I began experimentation with objects in my (up to then) mostly photographic installations. In the summer of 2024, just before I began the MFA at uOttawa, I did a three-month residency at @glogauair in Berlin (slides 1-3). The work I made during my time in Berlin was the first time I worked in installation; the works I produced at glogauAIR, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 and 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰, provided me a foundation for the work that I would begin in earnest during the MFA at @visualartsuottawa . Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to produce a number of installations in various spaces within the building, and to explore the concepts that continue to push my practice forward. So far in my MFA, I have created site-specific installations using found objects and images, objects and images from my familial archive, and my own photographs. My work produces commentary on collecting and the museum; trauma and chronic illness; religion and catholicism; epigenetics and the familial archive; and our relationships to the earth. Installtions depicted here include 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 (2024, slides 4-8), 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭? 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘰 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘦 (2025, slides 9-14), and 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘴 (2025, slides 15-20). At our Open Studios on December 12 (save the date!), I’ll be presenting the experiments I’ve been working on this semester in my basement studio - hope you can make it! Thanks for following along, stay tuned for more content from this years’ cohort of artists! - Olivia français dans les commentaires

Hi! Olivia Johnston (@olijohn ) here again continuing my takeover of the @visualartsuottawa account! My practice prior to beginning the MFA at uOttawa consisted primarily work in photography and photo-based approaches. Here, I’m sharing some examples of my work in photo from before the MFA. Many of the concepts I explored in these bodies of work are still present in my practice today, including questions about the self, the body, identity, gender, the image, and what we consider to be sacred. Even though I no longer consider myself primarily a photo-based artist, I am still deeply informed by the practice and modes of image-making, and photography has featured prominently in the work I’ve made as part of my MFA. Next, I’ll share some of that work - stay tuned! The images I’ve posted are various works from 2012-2022, you can check out my website for more info about specific projects if you wish! Bonjour ! Olivia Johnston (@olijohn ) est de retour pour poursuivre sa prise de contrôle du compte @visualartsuottawa ! Avant de commencer ma maîtrise en beaux-arts à l’Université d’Ottawa, je travaillais principalement dans le domaine de la photographie et des approches basées sur la photo. Je partage ici quelques exemples de mes travaux photographiques antérieurs à ma maîtrise. Bon nombre des concepts que j’ai explorés dans ces travaux sont toujours présents dans ma pratique actuelle, notamment les questions sur le soi, le corps, l’identité, le genre, l’image et ce que nous considérons comme sacré. Même si je ne me considère plus principalement comme une artiste photographique, je reste profondément influencée par la pratique et les modes de création d’images, et la photographie occupe une place importante dans le travail que j’ai réalisé dans le cadre de mon master. Je partagerai prochainement certains de ces travaux, alors restez à l’écoute ! Les images que j’ai publiées sont diverses œuvres réalisées entre 2012 et 2022. Si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez consulter mon site web pour obtenir plus d’informations sur des projets spécifiques !

Hello ✨my name is Olivia Johnston (@olijohn ) and I’m a second year MFA Visual Arts at uOttawa. Through lens-based imagery, site-specific installation, and sculpture, I use my practice to investigate my own experiences of chronic illness and trauma and examine the iconography of sacredness in contemporary life. I’m doing a takeover of this account this week to share more about my practice. Last week, the exhibition FLOWER POWER opened at the @diefenbunker , where myself and Neeko Paluzzi, a @visualartsuottawa MFA graduate from 2022, have been the artists in residence since April of this year. Throughout two immersive installations, our exhibition Flower Power focuses on the image of the flower as a commentary on humanity’s fragile pursuit of peace in a world shaped by conflict. Later this week I’ll be posting more about what I’ve been up to as part of the MFA over the past year! Stay tuned 🥰 — Bonjour ✨ Je m’appelle Olivia Johnston (@olijohn ) et je suis étudiante en deuxième année de maîtrise en arts visuels à l’Université d’Ottawa. À travers l’imagerie photographique, les installations in situ et la sculpture, j’utilise ma pratique pour explorer mes propres expériences de la maladie chronique et du traumatisme, et examiner l’iconographie du sacré dans la vie contemporaine. Je prends le contrôle de ce compte cette semaine pour vous en dire plus sur ma pratique. La semaine dernière, l’exposition FLOWER POWER a ouvert ses portes au @diefenbunker , où Neeko Paluzzi, diplômé en beaux-arts de l’Université d’Ottawa en 2022, et moi-même sommes artistes en résidence depuis avril de cette année. À travers deux installations immersives, notre exposition Flower Power se concentre sur l’image de la fleur comme commentaire sur la fragile quête de paix de l’humanité dans un monde marqué par les conflits. Plus tard cette semaine, je publierai d’autres informations sur ce que j’ai fait dans le cadre de mon master au cours de l’année écoulée ! Restez à l’écoute 🥰

I’m excited to be participating in this year’s @ottawaartgallery Give to Get Art Auction, with my piece 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓, pictured here. This piece is a small but precious hand-bleached darkroom print in a beautiful reclaimed wood frame from the folks over at @wallspacegallery . It could be yours for as low as $750; half of any proceeds will go to support the OAG and its programming. There’s so much amazing art up for grabs as part of this event; you can even bid online before the event starts - follow the prompts through the link in the OAG’s bio. Additionally, @kodakgirls.ca will be shooting portraits from 5:30-8:30 tonight! Attendees of the art auction will be able to sit for a 4x5 portrait created by me and the team. Hope to see you TONIGHT, thursday, may 29 🤩 (second pic by @laurenjayphoto of KG in action at the CWM earlier this month!) #paintthetownpink #lovetheoag #givetogetart

We're thrilled to announce Olivia Johnston and Neeko Paluzzi as our 2025 Artists-in-Residence! The duo based in the Ottawa-Gatineau area is known as “no collective”. Their residency will transform the bunker with a bold, multi-level, mixed-media exhibition that explores the failures of globalization in the post-Cold War era. Set within a space originally built for survival, their work will invite visitors to reflect deeply on themes of peace, conflict, and the fragility of human existence. Stay tuned for more details as their residency takes shape! Learn more: 🔗Link in bio.

Back in 2019, I had a conversation with @bstaubi about the grotto he had built in his house, which I had heard about but needed to see with my own eyes. He graciously invited me to his house for tea so that I could spend time in the special, strange second bathroom that he’d filled with religious objects, some artist-made and others cheap plastic gifted to him by friends. While i somehow have no photos from my visits to his grotto, documentation of my 2019 show at @cuartgallery shows groupings of objects that he lent me for that show. Using his objects in tandem with my own photographic works to create small installations shifted something in my practice; working with Bill’s collection back in 2019 was undoubtedly the starting point of the practice I’m now engaged in. Additionally, when Bill decided to deconstruct the grotto, I was the recipient of several objects that are still in my collection, including a plastic barbie-style doll of Pope John Paul II … one of my prized possessions. Bill is such a generous, kind, person who truly understands what it means to build an arts community and to support artists. His contribution to Ottawa’s arts scene can’t be overstated, and yet it took place behind the scenes for so many years. We are so unbelievably lucky to have a gracious soul like him in our community. Come celebrate Bill tomorrow evening at the opening of Grotto: the Bill Staubi Collection at the @ottawaartgallery !! My 2019 portrait of Cara Tierney (@phantomtits ) as the angel gabriel is featured in the exhibition - a perfect choice of image for this exhibition in my opinion since Cara is another person who perfectly represents the spirit of Ottawa’s tenacious, supportive arts community!! See you tomorrow eve ✨