JJ Johnson

JJ Johnson is a Lecturer in Fine Art (Studio Practice) at Goldsmiths University of London, working across drawing, painting, performance, and video to interrogate gender-fluid reproduction, queer kinship, and the intersection of digital communication with human relationships. Their practice merges anthropological methodologies with artistic experimentation.

• MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths University of London (2014)
• BA Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University (2007)
• DPhil Art Practice (in progress), Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford (2025)

Johnson’s research focuses on:

• Queer family-making and assisted reproduction politics
• Screen-mediated relationship dynamics
• Cultural hybridity through global dilemmas
• Performance of identity in expatriate communities
• Deconstruction of 'normative' social structures
• Material culture in isolation and emotional economies

Recent article trends analyze:

• Documentary approaches to queer subjectivity (2024)
• Verbatim performance techniques (2018)
• Anthropological critiques of global capitalism (2015-2018)
• Pandemic-era materiality in art (2020)
• Ethnographic film as cultural mediation (2016)

Scientific awards:

• Paul Hamlyn Award (Covid Relief) (2020)

Teaching experience includes:

• Goldsmiths University of London (2022–present, 0.5 permanent)
• Nottingham Trent University (2016–2022, visiting)
• Reading University (2018–2019, sessional)