Formal Bio

Beth Johnston (b. Kuna, Idaho) is an interdisciplinary and research-based artist exploring the connections between ecology, cultural imaginations, and ways of knowing.

With a background in science and psychology, Beth’s work looks at the multifaceted dimensions of the climate crisis, delving into its historical, political, material, social, and psychological roots. Her current research investigates photography’s role in the formation of cultural imaginaries around land, landscape, and the natural world at large; how we think about the land directly influences our perception and relationship to it.

Building off of this research, Beth’s artistic work is experimental in form—often employing non-traditional framing methods and interdisciplinary processes—in order to nourish non-dominant logics and to critically re-imagine the ways we relate to one another and the worlds we inhabit.

Beth received an MFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2022 with a self-designed concentration in NatureCulture studies and holds a BA in Psychology from Wake Forest University. She regularly participates in art-science collaborations and is currently a CASE (Colorado Art Science Environment) Fellow with the University of Colorado Boulder. She currently works between the high mountain desert of the Southwest and coastlands of the Northeast.

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Hi, I’m Beth.

I’m an artist and educator working mostly in photography, video, and installation methods.

My work is experimental in form because I want to encourage alternative ways to think about nature. Rather than thinking about nature as a backdrop for human activity