Willard Johnson is a painter and installation artist whose work investigates memory, identity, and belonging through layered surfaces of collage, paint, and photography. Born in Korea and raised across Cairo, Beirut, Germany, Guam, and the United States, his practice is rooted in a lifelong engagement with cultural hybridity and historical accumulation — what he calls the palimpsest: the way history, like ancient temples marked by Roman frescoes and modern graffiti, is never erased but always overwritten.

His current work takes the form of large-scale, modular canvases built from quilted textiles, tiled photographic prints, and layers of paint and writing. These mural-scale pieces function as physical records of lived experience — an insistence on presence and material encounter in an age of digital ephemerality. Drawing on the visual language of city walls in places like Beirut, Johnson translates collective memory and quiet daily acts of care into a contemporary painting practice.

Johnson holds an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art (2015) and a BA from Anderson University. He is a studio artist at the Harrison Center in Indianapolis and serves as Art Department Director at The Oaks Academy Middle School. His research has been supported by the Lilly Endowment through both the Teacher Creativity Fellowship (2025) and the Creative Renewal Fellowship (2023).