About Kristoffer Johnson
Kristoffer Johnson was born in Rogers, Arkansas in 1990. He was first introduced to photography by his father and grandfather when he was 13 and has been working with the medium ever since. He primarily works in alternative and antiquarian photographic processes. Kristoffer received a BFA in Photography and a BA in Journalism from the University of Arkansas. His work has been exhibited at the University Fine Arts Gallery, Arkansas Arts Center, Southeast Center for Photography and most recently Lumen Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
My work focuses on the impermanence and fragility of the human body and its place within the greater physical world. The human body is a fragile construct that ages, decays and dies. As the Buddhist concept of impermanence states, everything is impermanent and subject to rise and fall. Impermanence, aging and mortality are all unavoidable facts of the human condition that we must face despite the sense of control which society and self-awareness allows.
To Which We Return examines the sense of fear of mortality. The series makes use of an alternative darkroom photographic process known as Mordancage to alter black and white self-portraits. The Mordancage process degrades and disrupts photographic materials through a chemical process of decay and destruction. The cracked surfaces and veils of the nude body are weighted down by gravity visually reference collapse and entropy and reflect the material conditions of the human body. Simultaneously the forms and textures reference the natural world and geological formations, tying the body to the world in which it exists and to which it shall return. Photography has long been associated with memory and the desire to immortalize the past moment and therefore serves as constant reminder of time and mortality. However, photographs themselves are also subject to decay. Whereas the goal of most photography is preservation of self and memory this uses photography as a reminder of the ever-present specter of the possible cessation of existence.
About the art
Kristoffer Johnson was born in Rogers, Arkansas in 1990. He was first introduced to photography by his father and grandfather when he was 13 and has been working with the medium ever since. He primarily works in alternative and antiquarian photographic processes. Kristoffer received a BFA in Photography and a BA in Journalism from the University of Arkansas. His work has been exhibited at the University Fine Arts Gallery, Arkansas Arts Center, Southeast Center for Photography and most recently Lumen Gallery in Kyoto, Japan. He is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts Degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
My work focuses on the impermanence and fragility of the human body and its place within the greater physical world. The human body is a fragile construct that ages, decays and dies. As the Buddhist concept of impermanence states, everything is impermanent and subject to rise and fall. Impermanence, aging and mortality are all unavoidable facts of the human condition that we must face despite the sense of control which society and self-awareness allows.
To Which We Return examines the sense of fear of mortality. The series makes use of an alternative darkroom photographic process known as Mordancage to alter black and white self-portraits. The Mordancage process degrades and disrupts photographic materials through a chemical process of decay and destruction. The cracked surfaces and veils of the nude body are weighted down by gravity visually reference collapse and entropy and reflect the material conditions of the human body. Simultaneously the forms and textures reference the natural world and geological formations, tying the body to the world in which it exists and to which it shall return. Photography has long been associated with memory and the desire to immortalize the past moment and therefore serves as constant reminder of time and mortality. However, photographs themselves are also subject to decay. Whereas the goal of most photography is preservation of self and memory this uses photography as a reminder of the ever-present specter of the possible cessation of existence.