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Chris Johnson (artist)

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Chris Johnson
Born
Christopher D. Johnson

(1948-11-22) November 22, 1948 (age 75)
Brooklyn, New York
Known forPhotography and video
Notable workQuestion Bridge: Black Males
AwardsInternational Center of Photography, Infinity Award: New Media
2015 Question Bridge: Black Males
[1]
Websitewww.chrisjohnsonphotographer.com

Chris Johnson (born 1948)[2] is an American fine art photographer, educator, author, curator, video and installation artist working primarily with themes related to personal history, chance operations and social justice. He is a professor of photography at the California College of the Arts. His photographic work has been shown in a solo exhibition at Monterey Museum of Art.[3] Johnson's video work in collaboration with the Question Bridge team has been exhibited at Oakland Museum of California, Brooklyn Museum and Portland Art Museum.[4][5][6][7]

Career

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Johnson is a professor of photography at the California College of the Arts[8] where for 11 years he served as chair of the Photography Program. He has been president of the Board of SF Camerawork,[9] director of the Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography, and chair of the City of Oakland's Cultural Affairs Commission. Johnson is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Oakland Museum of California[10] and is President of the Board of The Alliance for Media Arts and Culture.[11]

Johnson is the author of The Practical Zone System: for Film and Digital Photography (1999); currently in its sixth edition.[12] His public art works and projects are included in Art as Social Practice: Technologies for Change (Routledge, 2022).

The Question Bridge project

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The original Question Bridge project emerged when, in 1996, Johnson was commissioned by the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego to produce a video piece as part of a multi-media exhibition entitled Re:Public curated by Richard Bolton.[13] The result was a rough experimental project intended to show how video-mediated questions and answers might provide fresh insights into familiar concepts like "race" and "class" when this approach is applied to people who nominally belong to the same racial demographic.[14]

Question Bridge: Black Males

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In collaboration with artists Hank Willis Thomas, Kamal Sinclair and Bayeté Ross Smith, Question Bridge: Black Males is a five-channel video installation platform for black men of all ages and backgrounds to ask and candidly respond to questions that are rarely discussed in public. Through video-mediated question-and-answer exchange, diverse members of this "demographic" bridge economic, political, geographic, and generational divisions. The Question Bridge campaign seeks to represent and redefine Black male identity in America.[15][4][16]

A book of essays titled Question Bridge: Black Males in America was published by Aperture in 2015.[17] The exhibit, which was named by Artnet as among 100 artworks that defined the decade, toured to more than thirty organizations.[18]

Exhibitions

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Solo photography exhibitions

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Solo photography exhibitions

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  • Reflections in Black: Art and Activism, African American Photographs from the Smithsonian Institution, curated by Deborah Willis, The Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles, 2002 and toured[20]

Question Bridge exhibitions

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Awards

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Collections

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Johnson's work is held in the following permanent collections:

References

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  1. ^ a b "2015 Infinity Award: New Media". International Center of Photography. Feb 26, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Brooklyn Museum". www.brooklynmuseum.org. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  3. ^ "In My Life: Portraits by Chris Johnson | Monterey Museum of Art". Monterey Museum of Art |. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  4. ^ a b c "Brooklyn Museum: Question Bridge: Black Males". Brooklyn Museum.
  5. ^ a b "Question Bridge: Black Males at the Portland Museum. Oregon". Portland Art Museum.
  6. ^ "The Question Bridge Project: Redefining Black Male Identity". Time.
  7. ^ Fancher, Lou (2017-09-28). "Question Bridge Returns to OMCA". www.alamedamagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  8. ^ "Christopher Johnson". Cca.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  9. ^ "2021 Online Event: Honoring Chris Johnson, Fund A Need Closing Reception". SF Camerawork. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  10. ^ "Board of Trustees | Oakland Museum of California". Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  11. ^ "Chris Johnson". The Alliance. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  12. ^ "The Practical Zone System for Film and Digital Photography". Digital Photography Review.
  13. ^ Waloff, Mariel (10 February 2012). "At the Oakland Museum, Question:Bridge facilitates a high-tech conversation among black men". Oakland North.
  14. ^ Waloff, Mariel (2012-02-10). "At the Oakland Museum, Question:Bridge facilitates a high-tech conversation among black men". Oakland North. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  15. ^ Ryce, Walter (14 February 2019). "A photographer and professor uses video in the interest of increasing humanity". Monterey County Weekly.
  16. ^ Thomas, Hank Willis (23 September 2014). ""What Is Common to All of Us?" Redefining Black Male Identity". Creative Time Reports.
  17. ^ "Question Bridge: Black Males in America and Question Bridge: Black Males". CAA Reviews.
  18. ^ Davis, Ben (2019-12-31). "The 100 Works of Art That Defined the Decade, Ranked: Part 3". Artnet News. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  19. ^ "In My Life: Portraits by Chris Johnson | Monterey Museum of Art". Monterey Museum of Art |. 2022-07-06. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  20. ^ ""Reflections in Black"". Cal State LA. 2013-10-22. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  21. ^ Waloff, Mariel (2012-02-10). "At the Oakland Museum, Question:Bridge facilitates a high-tech conversation among black men". Oakland North. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
  22. ^ "Question Bridge: Black Males". The Gantt Center. 11 August 2018. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  23. ^ "Question Bridge: Black Males | Corcoran". www.corcoran.org. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  24. ^ "J". Center for Creative Photography. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  25. ^ "Results | Search Objects | The MFAH Collections". emuseum.mfah.org. Retrieved 2022-10-30.
  26. ^ Fancher, Lou (2017-09-28). "Question Bridge Returns to OMCA". www.alamedamagazine.com. Retrieved 2022-10-29.
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