The new photo-based and sculpture exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) entitled “House on Fire,” by 33-year-old Winnipeg-based artist Sarah Anne Johnson – winner of the 2008 Grange Prize – explores her grandmother’s participation in a CIA research program in Montreal during the 1950’s.

The exhibition opens at the Art Gallery of Ontario on July 4 and continues throughout August, ending on Aug. 23. Besides personal photographs of Johnson and her grandmother with drawings in pencil and paint, “House on Fire” features sculptural work, including a dollhouse from which the exhibition takes its title.

“Johnson’s ability to combine media, working fluidly between sculpture and photography, is part of what has drawn so much attention to her work,” Michelle Jacques, the AGO’s associate curator of contemporary art, said in a statement. “In her previous work, [Johnson’s] focus was on public and environmental issues. Now, with 'House on Fire,' she’s gotten personal and her unique approach yields disarmingly affecting results.”

In the mid 1950’s patients in the care of Dr. Ewen Cameron of the Allan Memorial Institute at McGill University were subjected to a series of mind-control experiments (including shock and drug therapies) as part of the CIA project “MK-ULTRA.” One of those patients was Johnson’s grandmother, who sought Dr. Cameron’s help for postpartum depression.

Last year, Johnson was awarded the inaugural Grange Prize for contemporary photography. The annual partnership between the AGO and Aeroplan was launched in 2007 and rewards the best in Canadian and international photography. The $50,000 award – the largest of its kind in Canada – allows Canadians to determine the winners through a public voting system.

For more information: www.ago.net