Sandra Johnston’s creative interests lie in exploring performance art improvisation as a form of porous interaction with the actuality of environments, open to variation, adjustment and affective responses. The somatic physical aspects of the work develop from an ethos of attrition – consciously attempting to use a minimum of available resources, intersecting with a desire to leave no trace on surroundings. This approach of provisionality insists upon a speculative relationship to the emergence of narratives and meanings being formed directly, and conjointly, between the artist and audience. A key impetus for the work arises from recognition of the implications of social trauma and the ensuing cultures of silence, finding in performance methods a humble means to provide alternative forms of live testimony and mediation.
