Hillary Irene Johnson

Hillary Johnson is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, video, handmade books, and immersive multimedia installations. Her art explores the tension between heartache and beauty, and the personal and global anxieties tied to climate change and the human condition. Engaging the body through slow walking and observation, her photography examines the upheaval of both nature and humanity, aiming to foster empathy and connection for social change.

Johnson holds an MFA from Columbia College Chicago and has received the Albert P. Weisman and Thall-Mulvany Awards. Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications like NPR, NBC News, and Frontrunner Magazine. She is also the creator of “The Waters We Swim In,” a global movement for self-love and compassion, grounded in a process of transformative water-based portrait sessions that invite subjects to feel greater kindness and compassion for themselves while recognizing their place in the great pattern of things.