Vivien Johnson

Vivien Johnson is a writer, teacher, researcher and curator, whose contributions over several decades to Aboriginal art scholarship and advocacy, especially Western Desert art, have effected positive social and cultural change. Her pioneering interdisciplinary research combined anthropological, sociological, philosophical and art historical perspectives. Her monographs on Western Desert artists were foundational and her work on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights was recognised nationally and internationally. She has published 11 books, 12 major catalogues and over 100 articles in art journals and scholarly publications. Professor Johnson has been involved in the visual arts in Australia since the early ‘70s and was founding Editor-in-Chief of the Dictionary of Australian Artists Online (DAAO).