Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1986, Johns has spent 32 of her 35 years living in four Midwest states. At Miami University of Ohio she received her B.A. degree in Psychology along with a minor in Entrepreneurship. Following her passion for photography, she then took knowledge from her high school and college course work in the darkroom and began freelancing in 2009. She has continued as a Professional Wedding and Portrait Photographer worldwide (with a legal business LLC) for the past 12 years.  She also contracted at a commercial photography studio in Los Angeles for two years and worked 4 months assisting a Fine Art Photography Artist in Santa Barbara. Johns' fine art photography work started touring in solo and group shows throughout California, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio in 2010. She is a Master of Fine Art Photography (MFA) graduate of Brooks Institute. 

    Johns has been trained in woodworking, metalsmithing, glass working, ceramics, and various other mixed media art forms. Her more physical photography includes dark room photography (since the age of 16), photogravure, cyanotypes, encaustics, and the like. Johns' fine art itself most often hinges on conceptual fine art with topics of injustice ranging from racism, sexism, and homophobia to violence and abuse. She believes deeply in fine art as a strong medium for the expression of ugly realities within our society. Johns hopes that with each artistic exposure of the ills of our society (within the less straight-forward conceptual work) that people take time to touch, examine, and contemplate their role in the uglier parts of our society. 

Artist Statement

(2015, Wood engraving, metallic print, pigment prints, and mixed media) 

      Being different means that you’re “less than.” At least that’s what I was taught by peers while growing up in the Midwest for 26 years. In 2009 it became obvious to me that racism is not dead when I watched hooded and robed Ku Klux Klan members march on my campus as I sat in my college business class. That same year I also found that sexism is alive and well when doing research and stumbling upon the fact that women account for less than five percent of the CEOs at the Fortune 500 companies. These are clear signs that we still have much to overcome socially. 

     This project looks to confront stereotypes, specifically those against black persons and women. The Internet offers a glimpse into the opinions and biases of the masses through things such as blogs, Google search results, and social media. Online search suggestions reveal what is most frequently searched. This is not only an indication of what people think, but it also influences thought. 

     Physically playing with this art to reveal real Internet search suggestions harkens back to our early days of learning. Just as teaching with a pop-up book requires a child to touch and play with it in order to absorb meaning, so too does this body of work require interaction and touch for the viewer to learn about stereotyping. 

Concept

     Thirty percent of the brain is devoted to dealing with our sense of vision. Gender and race are the first two objective observations perceived about a human face, but unfortunately we are taught to subjectively stereotype based on these genetic dispositions. The Visual Indoctrination of the Bigot demonstrates the pervasiveness of racist and sexist bigotry being proliferated by the Internet, while also working against stereotypes to affirm the equality and power of black persons and women. Physical interaction between the viewer and the art allows not only an examination of harmful prejudiced media, but also urges viewers into self examination.