Laurel Johannesson

What type of printing do you prefer?

Since light is a fundamental aspect of the image, I also take it into account when choosing the materials I print on. I usually use brushed Dbond and metallic paper to enhance the light reflected on the surface of the work.

I recently started using LCD screens and LED lightboxes and I love Chromaluxe’s LUX-Art print and Backlite sheet.

Which type of print do you prefer?

While light is an essential aspect of the image, I also consider light in my choice of materials. I often print on metallic paper or brushed aluminum in order to capture light on the surface of the work, and lately, I’ve started working with LED lightboxes and LCD screens. So, at the moment, I prefer the Lux-Art by ChromaLuxe and, of course, the backlit panel.

What comes first, the idea or the fascination with the material? In other words, does the artistic/photographic project come first, or is it inspired by the techniques and particular processes that strike you?

The idea and the image come first.

However, as soon as I start working I immediately begin asking myself questions about the setup, the type of light the image needs and therefore which material will best exploit it, to enhance its surface.

What comes first, the idea or the fascination for the material? In other words, is the artistic project coming first of everything, or is there any kind of techniques that inspire you?

The idea and the image come first. However, as I’m working on the picture, I’m thinking about how I will display, what kind of light it needs to activate the surface, and what material or substrate is the best choice to exploit the light.

 

Do you have any Masters you look up to and feel close to?

Besides being an artist, I’m also a teacher, so every day I encounter and study countless historical and contemporary works of art. I admire so many artists’ work that it’s difficult to list just a few, but I can say I’ve always been deeply drawn to technology, to how artists have used it to change the rules of the game, creating works that are simultaneously new and subversive, yet mysteriously and ethereally beautiful. In this regard, the work of the Russian collective AES+F is particularly intriguing.

However I think I am mainly influenced by Cinema. I am seduced by moving images but I often find myself pausing the video to admire a certain scene, as if it were a still-life. I watch a lot of films and many of my favorite artists work using video images or are directors. For example, I love the work of Paolo Sorrentino and director of photography Luca Bigazzi for the evocative capacity of their static shots.

Even when I work on one of my images, even if they are not moving, I always think about the narrative sphere…What happens? What will happen soon? Many times, working on a work, I can already glimpse in it the plot of the next one.

Being an artist myself who includes her body in her works, I cannot help but appreciate Francesca Woodman, an artist-photographer who has always used her body and movement as a means to explore sexuality, isolation, anxiety and human alienation.

Is there any master/masterpiece you are influenced by?

Besides being an artist, I’m also an art Professor, so I’m looking at many contemporary and historical artworks of all types every day. I have so many favorites that it’s hard to narrow them down, but I’m always interested in technology and ways that artists can manipulate and use technology to create works that subvert the machine while retaining an ethereal or perhaps uncanny quality. In this regard, the work of AES+F is particularly intriguing.

However, I think I’m primarily influenced by cinema. I’m seduced by the moving image but will often pause a film to admire a particular moment of the composition of a still. I watch a lot of films, and some of my favorite artists are filmmakers or work with moving images. For instance, I adore the work of Italian filmmaker, Paolo Sorrentino and cinematographer, Luca Bigazzi for the way that they can evoke an emotion in the viewer with a poetic static image. Even when I’m working on a still image, I’m thinking about the narrative… what has just happened? What will happen next? The following image often comes from me weaving the story while I’m making the previous image. Also, as someone who uses their own body in their work, I appreciate how Francesca Woodman positioned her body to explore sexuality, questions of self, body image, alienation, isolation and anxiety.

 

His works struck me immediately, so sophisticated and saturated with silences, linked to classical mythology in an absolutely unexpected way.

His are Mediterranean beaches outside of time, the same ones where Ulysses had to stop during the thousand adventures described in the Odyssey and so symbolic and foreign to physical space, that they could be found on the back of “The Island of the Dead” by A. Böcklin.

They are places that no longer belong to reality, but to the intimate, to the profound Ego, to the hidden point where self-awareness can begin,  pauses in the journey of one’s personal Odyssey.

Precisely because of these aspects linked to self-awareness and the continuous psychological work that this entails, I found the poetic comparison to “Ithaca” by K.Kavafis almost natural, of which I report the closing:

“You must always have Ithaca in mind –

reaching it is constant thought.

Above all, do not rush your journey;

make it last a long time, for years, and that as an old man

set foot on the island, you rich man

of the treasures accumulated along the way

without expecting riches from Ithaca.

Ithaca gave you the beautiful journey,

you would never have done without her

on the road: what else do you expect?

And if you find it poor, Ithaca will not have disappointed you.

Made wise now, with all your experience on you

you will already have understood what Ithaca means.”

Could you describe how one of your pieces was born, the choices and second thoughts that lead to the finished work?

“Situations” is the project I’m working on

Contemplate a new series of works that explore various psychological states of being using the beach  and the coast as a space-time, theater of potential transformation.

The figures are located along natural views photographed in remote places in Greece and Southern Italy.It’s interesting that you mentioned Ithaca since my images are metaphorically of  kind of odyssey. The places of my works are dark and hidden, where I rarely happen to meet anyone.

For example, I traveled for hours and hours to reach a hidden quarry in the Cyclades and I found a place unknown to most in the surroundings of Otranto. The bodies I portray are sort of doppelgängers caught in the middle of ambiguous scenarios, full of psychological tension due to particular emotional states.

Coasts and sea caves represent the limit between two temporalities.

I transform the light so that the scene is not immediately decipherable, in fact it could be the sunset or a night pervaded by moonlight, a time that fluctuates between the reflections of the midday waves and the starry sky.

I consider the beach as a sort of Limbo, a limit where truth, judgement, chaos and precariousness meet, generating a soporific awareness.

The works are a combination of photographic images, digital collages and hand-painted elements.I am interested in the unfathomable and therefore I (re)construct spaces between the real and the imaginary.

I was impressed by your works from the very beginning. They are so sophisticated and full of silence, and they are connected to the classic mythology in an unexpected way.

Your Mediterranean beaches are out of time and they are the same ones Ulysses had to stop to during the never ending adventures described in the Odyssey. Such beaches are so symbolic and so estranged from the physical space, that they could be found on the rear A. Böcklin “Isle of the Dead”.

Such places do not belong to reality anymore, but to the inner world, to the deep Self, to the hidden spot where self-consciousness can be born – pauses during the journey of one’s own Odyssey. 

Because of such aspects, connected to self-consciousness and to the continuous psychological work that self-consciousness requires, I found almost natural the recall to K.Kavafis poem “Ithaka”, of which I have extracted the closure lines:

“Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn’t have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.”

Could you please describe how each of your works is born, and which are the choices and the second thoughts that lead you to the completed work?

I’m currently working on a new series entitled “Situations.” It explores various psychological states of being, using the beach or shoreline as a temporal space where transformation occurs. The figures are situated in natural settings that I photograph in remote, mystically-charged locations in Greece and sometimes Italy. These settings usually include a shoreline or sea cave, as I see the beach as a liminal site… the transformative space between two temporalities. It’s interesting that your question refers to The Odyssey and Ithaca, as the making of these works often involves an odyssey of sorts. The obscure locations that I choose are usually challenging to reach, and frequently I’ll be led on a journey to a hidden spot out of a chance meeting with someone.

For example, I’ve ended up in some secret places near Otranto in the south of Italy, and I’ve traveled for many hours to reach one elusive cave in the middle of the Cyclades in Greece.

I focus my camera primarily on my own body and the bodies of others who act as stand-ins or doppelgängers, and I locate them in locations that abound with psychological and often physical tension… with subjects frequently caught in the middle of ambiguous scenarios or seemingly emotional states. I use light to convey a sense of duration of time or perhaps timelessness or an in-between space of protracted temporality. In some of the imagery, the time of day is unidentifiable…fluctuating between sunlight and moonlight…stars in the sky and sun on the waves.

The works are a combination of my photographic imagery, digital collage, and hand-painted elements. I’m interested in the uncanny, and as a result, I (re)construct spaces out of real and imagined scenarios.

For me, the beach is a mesmeric place. It is the threshold where the intimation of celestial powers is murmured by the vacillation of the tides. The beach is the quintessential liminal zone. It is neither land nor sea, an expansion of precariousness that reverberates with the sound of unpredictable seas, …placid, serene, and soporific …or unsettled, chaotic, and disconcerting. It is a margin that unveils a space of intensified sensations that are fleeting, idiosyncratic, and fugitive. It is often a place of naked truth, of judgement, a site of initiation into consciousness. In this series of work, the verge of transition from the sanctuary of land to the vastness of the imposing sea provides a threshold for self-awareness, allowing for an exploration of aloneness, vulnerability, isolation, and remoteness at the same time as a realization of the body’s power and resilience.

 

Future projects?

I’m continuing the “Situations” series and working on some 3D moving images.

Future projects?

I’m continuing with the “Situations” series, and I’m also working on some 3D moving images.