When Winnipeg artist Sarah Anne Johnson’s exhibition House on Fire was purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario in August 2009, she was immediately faced with a dilemma. An upcoming show at Ace Art Inc. was booked for January, and now she had nothing new to exhibit.

Program director Hannah Godfrey challenged Johnson to push herself beyond her comfort zone and create something that “filled her with fear,” and Dancing with the Doctor, her latest exhibition, was born. Aided by friends and dancers Tanja Woloshen and Holly Treddenick, and dancer Ming Hon, her MAWA (Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art) “mentee,” Johnson set about executing the unique collaborative performance piece.

Dancing is a work which transposes the themes of her House on Fire series into dance.

Johnson used House to explore the psychological torture her grandmother, Val Orlikow, endured as an unwitting subject to 1950s CIA-funded brainwashing experiments in Montreal, code named MK-ULTRA.

Initially, this performance-based show would seem a departure from the photographic essays with Sculpey figurines for which she is known. But her background in theatre, which she studied as an undergrad, proved useful when it came to directing her dancers.

“When we finally got together, we only had a week of creation,” Hon explained at the gallery last week. “But Sarah had a good idea of who the characters were and what they would do. She was really clear about what she wanted.”

“For the most part, I would sit behind the desk and be like, ‘This may not be humanly possible, but could you just …’ and they would always say yes! It was just amazing,” Johnson added.

The subject matter is difficult, as she herself comes to terms with the impact that growing up with her grandmother’s pain has had on her mother and herself.

“I’m wrestling with ‘issues,’” she joked. “The show’s really about me.”

Abstracting events and memories based upon her own research and personal experiences, Johnson has her dancers express her grandmother’s inner turmoil.

Though she decided to steer away from documenting every detail of the actual event, what is performed is done so with disturbing and often difficult-to-watch accuracy.

“When you’re doing something creative, you don’t want to be too didactic. You don’t want to be too illustrative. You want to be poetic, whether it’s with words or whether it’s with imagery,” Johnson explained.

The sold-out performances of Dancing with the Doctor demonstrates why this Yale graduate has finessed her way from U of M to the Guggenheim. Her versatility and willingness to allow her art to move organically from one medium into another reveals a tireless creator, one whose imagination and talent is limitless.

When asked if she would do this type of work again, her response is direct and boisterous.

“Watch out!”

Published in Volume 64, Number 19 of The Uniter (February 11, 2010)