Richard Johnson: Resilience-Ice Huts and Root Cellars (20072021)

A photographic collection that celebrates the tranquility of winter and the ingenuity of vernacular architecture. From a clear, straight-on vantage point and with a pictorial formality echoing the work of documentary photography pioneers Bernd and Hilla Becher, Richard Johnson (19572021) spent more than a decade recording and categorizing visual typologies of small, hand-built structures across Canada. His largest and most celebrated collection of photographs documents ice huts used for fishing across the frozen lakes, bays, and rivers. These huts must be weather-resistant and transportable, giving basic shelter around the opening to the water below. Johnson's photographs reveal the functional and aesthetic similarities and differences of what he called "renegade architecture"-a form verging on a vernacular folk art tradition. Later in his life, Johnson began documenting Newfoundland's ubiquitous, earthen-built root cellars. To Johnson, the cellars were place-specific oddities; efficiently constructed and curiously anthropomorphic. They also fit conceptually into his lifelong fascination with small structures built out of necessity and usually by hand. More than 200 photographs from these series are complemented by texts from acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Edward Burtynsky and curator Tom Smart that contextualize Johnson's photographs and place his work among the contemporary disciples of the Bechers' Dsseldorf School. A personal text by Johnson's long-time partner, Lucie Bergeron-Johnson, provides an intimate portrait of the artist, and chronicles his journey to the discovery of his subject matter and the development of his signature style.

About the Author :
Lucie Bergeron-Johnson was born in Matane, Quebec and raised in Quebec City where she studied fashion before moving to Ottawa to learn English. Lucie shared 42 years of life, love, and work with Richard Johnson. Together, they raised two daughters and created the Richard Johnson Gallery. Since Richard’s death in 2021, Lucie has continued to manage the Richard Johnson Studio, an online gallery, in her role as art trustee. Tom Smart is an author, art gallery director, curator and arts consultant, who has written award-winning critical artist biographies, exhibition catalogues, and books. He has worked in art galleries and museums, including the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Frick Pittsburgh, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, curating exhibitions on Canadian and international artists. He has lectured at universities in Canada and the United States, and was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. Edward Burtynsky is regarded as one of the world's most accomplished contemporary photographers. His remarkable photographic depictions of global industrial landscapes represent over 40 years of his dedication to bearing witness to the impact of humans on the planet. Burtynsky's photographs are included in the collections of over 80 major museums around the world. Major touring exhibitions include: BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction (2024); Anthropocene (2018); Water (2013); Oil (2009); China (2005 five-year tour); and Manufactured Landscapes (2003). Burtynsky’s distinctions include the inaugural TED Prize in 2005, which he shared with Bono and Robert Fischell; the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts; the Outreach Award at the Rencontres d’Arles; the Roloff Beny Book award; and the 2018 Photo London Master of Photography Award. In 2019 he was the recipient of the Arts & Letters Award at the Canadian Association of New York’s annual Maple Leaf Ball and the 2019 Lucie Award for Achievement in Documentary Photography. In 2020 he was awarded a Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellowship and in 2022 was honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award by the World Photography Organization. In 2022 he was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame and was named the 2022 recipient for the annual Pollution Probe Award. Most recently he received the 2023 PHotoESPAÑA Award for Professional Career and was awarded with the 25th edition of the Pino Pascali Prize. Burtynsky was also a key production figure in the award-winning documentary trilogy Manufactured Landscapes (dir. Jennifer Baichwal, 2006), Watermark (dir. Baichwal and Burtynsky, 2013), and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (dir. Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, and Burtynsky, 2018). All three films continue to play in festivals around the world. Burtynsky currently holds nine honorary doctorate degrees.

Review :
"It's rare ... to find photographs that are both this rigorously designed and, at the same time, this rich with information. With Ice Huts, Johnson is performing both as artist and anthropologist." –The Globe & Mail "The huts can take many forms. Some are simple, some decked out. Many show touches of humor. And most, in one way or the other, say something about the people who use them." –The New York Times