Johanna Calle was born in 1965 in Bogotá, where she lives and works. Following her studies in the visual arts at the Talleres Artísticos of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá from 1984 to 1989, Calle received a British Council scholarship in 1992 to earn a master’s degree at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Her work draws on a range of archival and deciphering techniques, often associated with everyday life, to address the violence of recent Colombian history and evoke the victims of forced disappearances.

Johanna Calle has been honored with numerous prestigious awards, including major prizes and honorary recognitions in Colombian art salons (1996–2003), a fellowship at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2001), and international grants and residencies in Europe and the United States (2008–2013).

She has been included in international biennials such as the Sydney Biennale (2016), the São Paulo Biennial (2014), SITE Santa Fe (2014), and the Istanbul Biennial (2014).

Selected exhibitions include Arquitecturas, Bienvenu Steinberg & C, New York (2026); Museum of Contemporary Art Denver (2024); Hayward Gallery (2020); Josée Bienvenu Gallery, New York (2019); La Maison de l’Amérique latine, Paris (2017); Museum of Modern Art (2017); Silentes 1985–2015, Museo de Arte del Banco de la República, Bogotá, traveled to Museum Amparo, Puebla, Mexico (2015); Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (2013); the Drawing Room, London (2013); Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in San Francisco (2012); Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California (2012); Sàn Art in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (2012); and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2011).

Her work is included in institutional collections such as the Museum of Modern Art; Tate Modern; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires; Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; Museum of Bogotá; National Museum of Colombia, Bogotá; National Bank of the Republic of Colombia, Bogotá; Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami; Sur Collection, San Francisco; Comfenalco Antioquia, Medellín; Enersis Collection, Santiago; and Teorética Museum, San José.