Johnson is a Sydney based writer and sociologist. She has been an Australian Professorial Fellow in the Centre for Cross Cultural Research at the Australian National University, and previously an Associate Professor in sociology at Macquarie University, establishing one of the first courses on Indigenous Australian art in the university sector. Her influential monographs on Western Desert artists and her work on Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights have had wide social impact.
In 2006 Vivien Johnson worked on the History of Papunya Tula Artists, the founding Western Desert painting company, finished the Early Papunya Boards book, did background documentation and archival filming for the Title Deeds exhibition and catalogue (National Museum of Australia) and worked with IAD Press in Alice Springs on the production of Lives of the Papunya Tula Artists.
In 2008, Professor Johnson headed a major collaborative ARC funded project, Dictionary of Australian Artists On-line.