About K. Johnson Bowles

The works are informed by my heritage as an Irish-American (non-practicing) Roman Catholic and my beliefs in feminism, secular humanism, and social justice. Writings on phenomenology, ontology, hauntology, and semiotics provide theoretical underpinnings. I admire contemporary vernacular art, Mexican retablos, Huipil Grande Traje de Gala of the Istmo de Tehuntepec tradition and other types of resplandors, religious shrines, Baroque art, 17th Century Dutch still life paintings, Haitian Voudou flags, and African power figures (nkisi) of Kongo tradition. 

Biography

K. Johnson Bowles has exhibited in more than 80 solo and group exhibitions nationally. Feature articles, essays, and reviews of her work have appeared in more than 30 publications including Sculpture, SPOT, and Surface Design Journal. She is the recipient of fellowships from National Endowment for the Arts, Houston Center for Photography Fellowship, the Visual Studies Workshop, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. In 2020, more than 55 works from her most recent body of work, Veronica’s Cloths, have been selected for publication in 28 art and literary journals across the US including the American Journal of Poetry, the William and Mary Review, and Coffin Bell among others. In addition, she has written critical essays for Afterimage and has curated more than 125 exhibitions of Chinese, African, and American art. She received her MFA in photography and painting from Ohio University and BFA in painting from Boston University.