Photography is the other world, where things and places are different, where the time is stopped. People usually watch on the photographs to remember things and events which took place many years ago, and it is possible to do. To watch the photos and to make them are two absolutely different things. Watching the photo, person usually sees the result of the photographer, that beauty and is already pleased. The different thing is with the person who makes these photos. Photography is the art and the artist creates her works of art with the feeling of blessedness, which is possible only when the time is stopped and the action is frozen.
The main aim of the photographer is to stop the time and to make people to be delighted by the beauty of the picture, as the time is the substance which flows fast and the art is eternal and people have the opportunity to enjoy the photos for a long time. Pia Johnson is the contemporary photographer who created a lot of photos which are the great pieces of art. Her works were mostly colored and vivid, but her last collection is black and white, without any vividness, but still the feeling of movement is present.
Considering Pia Johnson’s exhibition which takes place in Melbourne now (2 to 12 September) is named ‘Threads’. Woven threads are the main concentration of the Johnson’s photos. All the photos strike attention, and at the same time it is almost impossible to imagine, that must be seen (picture 1 and picture 2). Watching the photos, the dark room comes to mind, with the white fabrics which are scattered everywhere: on the walls and on the floor without any order. The impression of movement may be seen as the fabrics as if fly on the air. Such effect is reached by means of lots of folds and lightness of the material. There is the feeling that the space is immense and it is impossible to see it or even imagine.
Pia Johnson’s pictures show the delicacy and fragility of the fabrics, its light structure and the feeling of easy break make people provide the association with the nature, which is the same delicate and fragile. Black background may be associated with the night while light fabrics with the day and the roughness (because of folds) of the surface show the changes of the nature and in the nature. The pictures catch viewer’s eye and it is impossible to leave, the feeling of lightness comes and people want to think and dream before Pia Johnson’s photos.
Considering the time frames of the works, they are contemporary, the new works of Pia Johnson, who just starts her art way, but who has already became a well-known artist, whose photos are published in different editions. Serching for any information about Pia Johnson, her profile was noticed, which dates back to 2001. That profile makes possible for people to come over her inner world and to understand the themes of her artistic work. All photos by Pia Johnson are spontaneous, she never thinks long about what to photo and where to find new ideas to the pictures. Nature and the surrounding world is one of the main spheres for inspiration (Johnson).
Johnson is the young photographer who has been studying for some time and in the University she was already thinking about fabrics as the raw materials for the pictures. Being interested in eastern culture, Johnson wanted to show her attitude, her vision of that culture through the materials, its lightness and at the same time complication of their weaving. Small and thin threads are interconnected and bound in a huge and flat cloth, which may symbolize a lot of things. The nature, its change and heterogeneity, a great variety of details which make up the whole picture may be the main message which the photographer wanted to deliver to the viewer. The cloth, is like the nature, has a large spectrum and may be of different shape, which consists of a lot of details (threads), which support and assures the existence of the whole substance.
The composition of Pia Johnson’s ‘Thread’ collection is rather simple but it carries in itself a great meaning. The photo of any artist is a story. Pia Johnson’s story is about the nature which is introduced in the fabrics. Considering the composition of her photos, the attention is caught by light. The photos are not dark as the light spots or even stripes are seen, and this light is the center of the picture which makes the viewer to ignore the dark corners and the shades. The use of just black and white colors makes the composition of the photos completed. The bright colors will make the photos as child pictures and the offered idea gives the deepness of thought and idea which is seen on the photo.
In comparison to the previous works of the artist, this collection is absolutely different. The other works are colored, and most of them are portraits in color of people who are happy (picture 3 and picture 4). The compositions are so rich and full of colors, that the discussed collection of photos as if contradicts the previous. The photos of different buildings and constructions are also different. It seems that creating the photo collection ‘Thread’, Pia Johnson’s views have changed, that her vision of life and surrounding world has changed.
So, the discussed collection of Pia Johnson’s photos is her new vision of life, her new understanding of the world. The fabrics which are introduced on the photos in white and black color make people to think about a lot of things, to consider a lot of aspects of people’s life. The threads, which combination creates cloth, are so symbolic and different people may see different things there. Black and white colors are the basic colors which fit every situation, and the light shift from white to black and from black to white makes people think that everything may be understood differently. Some people think this is dark, the others that it is light. The life is the same, it is not categorical.
Works Cited
Johnson, Pia. “Student profile.” Top Arts VCE. 2001. NGV. Web.
