Live Chat with Sarah Anne Johnson, David Moos, Meeka Walsh moderated by Robert Enright
June 5, 2026 | 5 – 7PM
University of Winnipeg Manitoba Hall Boardroom, room 2M70 | 515 Portage Ave. Access through Manitoba Hall entrance, next to the crosswalk on Balmoral Street
Plug In ICA is delighted to announce Live Chat, a conversation with Sarah Anne Johnson, David Moos, Meeka Walsh, moderated by Robert Enright. Join us for a conversation about the work of Sarah Anne Johnson and learn more about her exhibition House on Fire.
House on Fire is the title of a long series of works produced by artist Sarah Anne Johnson. Coming from a deeply personal narrative, House on Fire is the artist’s belated response to a family trauma unearthed and fragmented, but one that she has ultimately reassembled. Johnson’s grandmother, Velma Orlikow, was a victim of psychiatric experiments performed at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal.
The installation, which centres on a dollhouse of secrets, also includes altered family photos, archival newspaper clippings, and small bronze figures of distress. Over time, the project grew from the original installation to include performances created for video.
This iteration of House on Fire is currently presented as a reconsideration of the original installation and an introduction to new works by this remarkable artist.
Plug In ICA would like to thank Michael Nesbitt for making this exhibition possible.
Sarah Anne Johnson is a Winnipeg-born multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography, painting, sculpture, video, and performance. She holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from the Yale School of Art. Sarah is the recipient of numerous grants and awards and her work is held in several major permanent collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum. Sarah is best known for her photo-based practice in which she physically and digitally alters large-format prints with oil paint, gold leaf, stickers, and other materials.
Her relationship with nature has remained a consistent subject across her body of work, from her early series of photographs documenting her time as a treeplanter in Northern Canada to her current work that examines the nostalgia we feel for a deeper, wild, more rugged connection with the natural world.
David Moos is the president and founder of David Moos Art Advisory, a bespoke firm placing museum-calibre works in private and public collections in Canada and the United States. Prior to founding DMAA in 2011, Moos was the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2004–2011) and the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama (1998–2004). While at the AGO, Moos acquired Sarah Ann Johnson’s House on Fire for the permanent collection, through the generous support of Michael Nesbitt. Moos received a BA from McGill University, Montreal, and a PhD in Art History from Columbia University, New York. In 2020 he co-founded Museum Exchange, the first digital platform for art donations, allowing museums to access works of art being offered by collectors outside their established donor base.
Meeka Walsh, C.M., is the Editor of Border Crossings magazine. She has published a collection of short stories and most recently Malleable Forms: Selected Essays for which she received the 2023 Alexander Isbister Kennedy Award for Non-Fiction. She has served on a number of Boards nationally and locally, including Plug In ICA and The National Gallery of Canada. She lives in Winnipeg.
Robert Enright, C.M., is a writer and professor who lives in Winnipeg and teaches in the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph. As a contributing editor he has conducted the artist’s interviews in Border Crossings magazine. He has written for Artforum, frieze, ArtReview and The Globe and Mail and has contributed essays, introductions and interviews to over 300 books and catalogues.
Acknowledgments
We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the National homeland of the Red River Métis. Our water is sourced from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.
Plug In ICA would like to thank Yossi Milo Gallery for their support on this exhibition.
Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Gilles Hébert, Interim Executive Director at executivedirector@plugin.org.
For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact info@plugin.org.
For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043