Whisper, Whisper, 2025 © Sarah Anne Johnson / courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery

Sarah Anne Johnson
A Mountain and a Forest

September 13 – October 25, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 13, 2 – 5pm
Guided Tour with Sarah Anne Johnson: Saturday, September 13, 3pm
Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto

Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present A Mountain and a Forest, our seventh solo exhibition of work by Canadian artist Sarah Anne Johnson.

Crossing Over (Mountain), 2025 © Sarah Anne Johnson / courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery

Johnson presents a journey in two chapters: Cedar Forest and Mountain. Both series expound on the artist’s Woodland series, offering new dimensions and depth to an already impressive body of work. Mountain offers a quiet, personal reflection on horseback trek through Jasper National Park, while Cedar Forest draws viewers into the mesmerizing cedar groves of British Columbia. These series exist in beautiful harmony as a meditation on the natural world, and what it means to experience it fully.

The figures in Mountain are depicted on an unending journey, captured mid-passage as they move toward the promise of salvation within the Cedar Forest. The intimate moments captured in this series are enshrined in hand-crafted frames, which become not only recollections, but artifacts of the journey.

The Valley (Mountain), 2025 © Sarah Anne Johnson / courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery

In Cedar Forest, the trees appear alive, vibrating with the colour and energy that Johnson draws out of them. Through careful application of digital chroma, iridescent tapes, gold leaf, and oil paints, she transforms the landscapes into otherworldly vistas—both familiar and fantastical. These images not only highlight the innate beauty of the natural world but also allude to its innerworkings and connectedness.

Johnson’s strength lies in her ability to invite the viewer not only to see how she sees, but to feel how she feels. She does not simply take photographs, she creates them. Transforming landscapes into shared experience, memories, and ruminations on our relationship to the natural world and to ourselves.

Orange Stump, 2025 © Sarah Anne Johnson / courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery

Sarah Anne Johnson received her MFA from Yale University and a BFA from University of Manitoba. Her work is featured in numerous public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY; the Guggenheim Museum, NY; Contemporary Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC; The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, each of which has extensive holdings of her work. She was prominently featured in the Oh, Canada show at Mass MOCA and she has received commissions from Louis Vuitton, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Bank of Montreal, and the Caribbean Art Meet-Up. Her work is in private, corporate and public collections, including The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.

Stephen Bulger Gallery
1356 Dundas Sreet West
Toronto, ON M6J 1Y2
416-504-0575
info@bulgergallery.com

Facebook: @BulgerGallery
Instagram: @stephenbulgergallery

Accessibility: The gallery is partially accessible, with a level entrance, an accessible washroom, wide and unobstructed pathways, and automatic doors at the entrance.