About
About
Fatness is one of the most significant facets of my identity. I say “fatness” as a literal description, and as a reclamation, not as self-sabotage. I do this because the way in which I calculate my worth is in contention with the way my worth is calculated in our culture of fat-hatred. A justifiable life must be bought, and the capital is thinness.
My work investigates the way fatness is moralized in contemporary culture, thereby justifying the discipline and exploitation of the fat body. Using sculptural elements, my work places its viewers into the uncomfortable positions of shame and empathy. My work encourages the viewer to dispute their own conditioned ideas about fat bodies, and as an artist, I apply a constant counter-pressure to that which oppresses me.
Mia Johnson is an interdisciplinary artist and historian born in Redlands, California. She spent her childhood moving across the country from state to state with her parents and four siblings. Mia Received a BFA in Print Media & Photography and BA in Art History from Kent State University as well as an MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University. Mia has since held residencies at Zygote Press and Columbus Printed Arts Center. She currently lives and works in Marshall, Missouri as assistant professor of studio art at Missouri Valley College.