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Susie

Johnston

My practice-based research investigates the active agency, resistance, and vitality of matter by asking: how do objects “object”? Rather than viewing the material world as passive and merely a resource awaiting extraction, I explore the many ways objects speak, act, and behave in ways that resist my intentions as an artist. To “object” is both a state of being and an act of defiance and refusal. By asserting their own agency, far beyond literal and inherited understandings of what they are, materials expose the limits of my understanding and disrupt the idea of the human as exceptional. Through making sculptures, installations, and paintings, I co-collaborate with objects through hands-on, tacit encounters. This approach reveals the many ways in which objects assert themselves, altering the trajectories, making processes, and final outcomes of the works. The practice is primarily and continuously materially led.

Disciplines: Installation

Location: Perth

Materials: Acrylic, Assemblage, Objects, Oil, Wheel Thrown

www.susiejohnston.co.uk

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My practice-based research investigates the active agency, resistance, and vitality of matter by asking: how do objects “object”? Rather than viewing the material world as passive and merely a resource awaiting extraction, I explore the many ways objects speak, act, and behave in ways that resist my intentions as an artist. To “object” is both a state of being and an act of defiance and refusal. By asserting their own agency, far beyond literal and inherited understandings of what they are, materials expose the limits of my understanding and disrupt the idea of the human as exceptional. Through making sculptures, installations, and paintings, I co-collaborate with objects through hands-on, tacit encounters. This approach reveals the many ways in which objects assert themselves, altering the trajectories, making processes, and final outcomes of the works. The practice is primarily and continuously materially led.

Previous Experience

2020-2026- PhD Candidate, DJCAD, University of Dundee 2022 PGCHE Masters teaching certificate, University of Dundee 2014-2015 DJCAD, Dundee. Masters of Fine Art & Humanities (Distinction) 1998-99 Sydney College of the Arts, MVA (Distinction) 1999 Glasgow School of Art, Masters exchange student 93-96 Sydney College of the Arts, BVA (first class) 90-91 Central St. Martins School. (Foundation) group exhibitions 2026-2027 Dear Earth, Fife Contemporary. Kirkcaldy Galleries – St. Andrews Museum 2026 RSA 200th open exhibition 2025 RSA 199th open exhibition 2024 VAS centenary show 2024 Intertwined, Festival of The Earth, Dundee Botanic Gardens 2023 Objects of Conviction, Patriothall Galleries, with Ginny Elston 2022 Tales of the Unexpected, Lamb Gallery, Dundee University 2022 Weights of Responsibility, Birnam Arts 2021 RSA Open, Edinburgh solo exhibitions 2026 Tacit Twists & Realms of Refusal, WASPS, Meadowmill, Dundee 2025 Commitment, Green Gallery, Dundee Botanic Gardens 2021 Momentum, Perth Creative Exchange 2018 Platform, Perth Museum and Art.

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