Emily Johnson

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. Emily belongs to the Yup’ik Nation, is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. A Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award, Emily is based in Lenapehoking. Her large-scale performance gatherings insist thrivance, radical reworlding, and just futures. Emily formed her performance company, Emily Johnson / Catalyst in 1998. Catalyst’s tenant is Land Back. Emily will be working alongside Leomary Rodriguez, Catalyst’s Decolonization Rider Analyst and Strategist. Leomary is an Afro-Taína data analyst, storyteller, and strategist who uses data to support decolonial frameworks. Rooted in kinship, care, and accountability, her work centers Indigenous sovereignty and Land Back. With a background in storytelling through various mediums, she uses data to illuminate patterns, uplift truth, and advance Catalyst’s mission for collective liberation.

  • AoCC
  • Critical Correspondence Contributor
  • Publishing
  • Studies Project Organizer
  • Studies Project Participant
  • AoCC Curated Artists, Spring 2022 MR@Judson
Emily is crouched in a garden, hands stretched forward, tending to plants. Emily is smiling, perhaps having just heard a good story. Her gaze is downward toward the plants in hand. Emily is wearing a black and gold flecked shimmery dress, pulled low off of one shoulder. Her hair is long and down and tossed over toward that same shoulder. It’s a sunny day and light is glimmering off of the green garden plants.Photo courtesy the artist.
ID: Emily is crouched in a garden, hands stretched forward, tending to plants. Emily is smiling, perhaps having just heard a good story. Her gaze is downward toward the plants in hand. Emily is wearing a black and gold flecked shimmery dress, pulled low off of one shoulder. Her hair is long and down and tossed over toward that same shoulder. It’s a sunny day and light is glimmering off of the green garden plants.Photo courtesy the artist.