Liz Johnson Artur

EXHIBITION

Tituba, Who Protects Us?

Palais de Tokyo

17.10.2024 - 05.01.2025

Liz is part of the group exhibition ‘Tituba, Who Protects Us?’ at the Palais de Tokyo, curated by Amandine Nana, showing the work Time Don’t Run Here, 2022.

EXHIBITION

Pick Up Notes

Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam

20 September 2024 — 27 April 2025

Liz is showing two new works as part of the exhibition ‘Pick Up Notes’, curated by Gabi Ngcobo and Rosa de Graaf at Kunstinstituut Melly in Rotterdam. Blue Notes as well as untitled which is a large jaquard weave piece, especially developed for this show.

EXHIBITION

Black Balloon Archive

The British Library, London

18 April - 1 September 2024

Liz is showing a selection of new works at the British Library, which relate to the British music scene and UK cultural history. Installed in the mezzanine floor, the exhibition is displayed along the main glass of the central library structure.

Come to visit, it is free to enter and see!

SPECIAL COLLECTION DISPLAY

Time Don’t Run Here

Tate Modern, London

August 2022 - July 2023

We are happy to announce, that there is special collection display at Tate Modern, on view now until the summer next year. Liz is showing a rare selection of her unique workbooks and notebooks, as well as a new work, alongside Time Don’t Run Here (2020), which is now part of the Tate collection.

Come to visit, it is free to enter, like the whole permanent collection on display.

Level 2, Room 18

https://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern/display/artist-and-society/liz-johnson-artur

EXHIBITION

Life Between Islands

Tate Britain, 1 Dec 2021 – 3 APRIL 2022

AGO, 6 Dec 2023 - 1 April 2024

Liz Johnson Artur is participating in this major overview with a work she has created in relation to young communities and music culture. After Tate, the exhibition will be on view at AGO in 2024.

EXHIBITION

of life of love of sex of movement of hope

FOAM, Amsterdam

15 Oct 2021 - 9 Feb 2022

We are thrilled and very happy that Liz Johnson Artur has just opened the solo exhibition ‘of life of love of sex of movement of hope’ at FOAM in Amsterdam this fall. She is showing a mixture of materials and works from her archive as well as new works and installation pieces which are engaging with the space on site.

AWARD

Women in Motion 2021 - Rencontres d’Arles/Kering

We are honored that Liz Johnson Artur will receive this year’s Women in Motion award during Recontres d’Arles 21. The prize is dedicated to the body of work she is engaged with for more than 30 years. As part of the Masculinities exhibition which will be on view in Arles Liz will show some new work, which had not been on view in the previous legs of the touring exhibition. See the presentation.

EXHIBITION

DUSHA

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

17 Jan- 19 Apr 2020

Johnson Artur`s first US museum exhibition Dusha continued to travel from Brooklyn Museum to CAM in St. Louis, where its is on view until 19 April.

Come along!

https://camstl.org/exhibitions/liz-johnson-artur/

https://camstl.org/video/artist-talk-liz-johnson-artur/

EXHIBITION

If you know the beginning, the end is no trouble

South London Gallery, London

14 Jun- 1 Sep 2019

Johnson Artur is showing new work at the South London Gallery until 1 Sep. The show is accompanied by an extensive public and events program throughout the summer, curated by Alx Dabo.

Please come along!

https://www.southlondongallery.org/exhibitions/liz-johnson-artur/#related-events

https://www.southlondongallery.org/exhibitions/liz-johnson-artur/

Exhibition Guide: https://www.southlondongallery.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/all-pages-no-poster.pdf

Exhibition Poster: https://www.southlondongallery.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/p9-red.pdf

EXHIBITION

Dusha

Brooklyn Museum

3 May – 18 August 2019

Johnson Artur is showing her first US museum exhibition Dusha at the Brooklyn Museum until August. It is a distinct presentation of her broad practice, including old and more recent works, and her new film AfroRussia. Come along!

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/johnson_artur

EXHIBITION

Johnson Artur is participating in the exhibition A Time For New Dreams by Grace Wales Bonner at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery opening Jan 19th. She will be showing a new work, an installation with various objects and material.

Find more info here

FEATURE

We are very happy that Johnson Artur’s work has been chosen for a feature and the cover of Aperture’s Winter 2018 issue ‘Family’. Copies are on sale from Dec 4th.

https://aperture.org/magazine/

https://bit.ly/2E5PwuA

FEATURE

Document Journal just brought a great feature on Johnson Artur’s recent work in their new F/W 18 issue Nr 13.

https://bit.ly/2BW8rqi

PRIZE FINALIST

We are happy that Liz Johnson Artur had been a finalist for the prestigious inaugural Jane Lombard Prize for Art and Politics (formerly Vera List Center Prize for Art and Politics), together with Tiffany Chung, Naine Terena de Jesus, and Emily and Annemarie Jacir. The jury consisted of Koyo Kouoh, Richard William Hill, Carin Kuoni, Nontobeko Ntombela, Uzma Z. Rizvi and Maya Wiley.

South African collective Chimurenga won the price, big congratulations!

https://bit.ly/2BXRmwB

EXHIBITION

Berlin Biennale 10

9.06.18 - 9.09.18

http://www.berlinbiennale.de/de/kuenstler-innen

We are honored that Liz Johnson Artur has been selected to participate in the 10th Berlin Biennale which is curated by Gabi Ngcobo with her team Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Serubiri Moses, Thiago de Paula Souza and Yvette Mutumba. Johnson Artur's work can be seen at the KW Kunstwerke space in Auguststrasse. She is showing six bodies of work, of which five had been created for this show.

EXHIBITION

This Synthetic Moment

curated by David Hartt

with James Barnor, Zoe Leonard, Liz Johnson Artur, Kwame Brathwaite, David Hartt and Christopher Williams

David Nolan Gallery, NY, January 18 – March 10, 2018

"A picture of one woman looking at another, a portrait of a man holding a camera, a portrait of several women in a schoolyard, a picture of a dancer recumbent, and a picture of several ships. 

A crisis of borders, a fold in time, a rupture in space. An assertion of gradience. 

I was having a hard time describing how I was feeling and then Thomas said "synthetic" and it stuck in my mind. I wanted something porous, a polymeric structure where the voice, agency, geography, and temporality of others collude to produce a more compelling version of the world.  Brixton, Los Angeles, Accra, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, etc., spinning a new distributed off-axis center. (...)

http://www.davidnolangallery.com/exhibitions/this-synthetic-moment

VOTE / EXHIBITION

Liz' exhibition as part of her nomination for the Aimia/Ago Photography Prize has just opened on Thursday 6th of September at AGO in Toronto. You can view installations shots below and at https://www.aimiaagophotographyprize.com/artists/liz-johnson-artur . While the four nominees had been picked by a small jury, the prize winner will be chosen by the public, while visiting in person and online!

It would be great if you could support Liz if you like her work. 

You can vote here  https://www.aimiaagophotographyprize.com/vote

Spread the word!

Thanks!!

SHORTLIST

LIZ JOHNSON ARTUR SHORTLISTED FOR AIMIA I AGO Photography Prize 2017

It has just been announced that Liz is one of 4 artists who have been shortlisted for this year's Aimia I Ago prize! Her work will be exhibited along side the other nominees in September and the public can choose the winner on the spot or online from September 13. 

https://www.aimiaagophotographyprize.com/artists/liz-johnson-artur

Come back for more informations regarding voting and the exhibition!

FEATURE

THIS LONG CENTURY

Liz' work is featured on the Jason Evan's great This Long Century project blog. Check it out!

http://www.thislongcentury.com/?p=9680&c=350.....i

Johnson Artur's monograph included in New York Times list

Very happy that Liz Johnson Artur's monograph with Bierke Verlag has been included in the 'Best Photo Books 2016' list of the New York Times.

What a great way to end this year! 

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FEATURE

The Fader talks to Johnson Artur about her work and recent monograph, Nov 2016

"In her new untitled photography book, Liz Johnson Artur manages to capture compelling nuances of blackness. Instead of perpetuating oversaturated narratives centered around black plight, The Russian-Ghanaian artist highlights friendship, family, and love. Artur presents the beauty in the normalcy of life in over 25 years of rich photographs taken in London, Paris, New York, different countries in Africa, and the Caribbean that thread together diverse experiences of black people around the world.

There's a sense of intimacy from the way Artur approaches her work — in images of parties, she depicts the spirit of the dance floor and when black men and boys are her subjects, they appear majestic and free. Last month, The FADER spoke with Artur over email about how she started taking photos for the book and why it's important to offer a diverse representation of the African Diaspora."

Find the full feature HERE

EXHIBITION

A Thousand and X Little Actions

with Liz Johnson Artur (GHA/RU), Jacob Holdt (DK), David Hartt (CAN), William E. Jones (US), Jason Larkin (UK)

Lothringer 13 Halle/Room Munich, 8. 10. – 27. 11. 2016

For “A Thousand and X Little Actions,” Jörg Koopmann has invited artists, whose work is shaped by a critical, sensitive confrontation with existing relationships and whose attitude reflects a curiosity towards humankind and an openness toward their subjects: Five artists, working across borders, who closely examine diverse identities and their stereotypes and expand upon them, without romanticizing anything in the process.

The starting point is the recently published book by Liz Johnson Artur, informed by her Russian-German-British-Bulgarian-Ghanaian upbringing. In Lothringer13 Halle, Liz Johnson Artur lays out her “Black Balloon Archive” for the first time, a dense compendium of her work over the last 30 years, full of empathetic examinations of her environment. Liz describes her motivation regarding her archive as follows:

“I’m interested in normality. I observe the basic things that are individual yet common to us all – for example, gestures, body language, emotions. I know that sounds clichéd. You could say, normal is boring, but normal is what a lot of people need in order to simply be a part of something. Because if you take that away from them and always put them in the cool, the colorful, the poor or the religious corner, then they are simply there, and the entire picture will never really change.”

Find more info HERE

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INTERVIEW/FEATURE

ID Magazine, Oct 2016

On the occasion of Johnson Artur's slide show exhibiton See Me Here! at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, Niamh McIntyre spoke to Liz about here work and inspirations.

"For me, taking portraits is a very personal, one-on-one experience", Liz says. "It's a collaboration, even if it's only a very brief encounter." 

find the full feature HERE

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EXHIBITION

See Me Here! A unique night photographic installation

Black Cultural Archives Brixton, 23.09. - 29.09.2016

Johnson Artur exhibited a slide reel of visual and audio work captured in South London from her Black Balloon Archive. The installation was on view in the evening hours between 23.09 and 29.09. and coincided with Afropunk London.

(project in conjunction with Dean Ricketts, The Watch-Men Agency) 

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EXHIBITION

1.-3. Person plural: wir, ihr, sie

Kunstverein Leipzig, 20.08. - 06.09.16

wir, ihr, sie is the second part of the exhibition 1.-3. Person singular/plural, curated by Anna Voswinckel at the Kunstverein Leipzig.  This part was dealing with questions of identity and socialization. Family, community rituals, visual practices of affiliation and othering were being examined. The works on display were characterized by a search for breakups and bordercrossings, and a practice of participant observation and artistic research.

Artur Johnson included 13 images, which can be seen in a full installation view HERE.

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INTERVIEW

Brief Encounters: An interview with Liz Johnson Artur

Karen McQuaid, senior curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, has interviewed Liz Johnson-Artur, as she is one of the artists featured in their current exhibition Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity. This interview, along with other writings and images on dandyism and black masculinity, is available in the new issue of Loose Associations, a quarterly publication on photography and image culture, published by The Photographers' Gallery.

Find the interview HERE.

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EXHIBITION

Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity

The Photographer's Gallery, London, 15.7. - 25.9.

The Photographer's Gallery has chosen 12 images of Johnson Artur's Black Balloon Archive to include in their group exhibition this summer, curated by Ekow Eshun. Other photographer presented are Malick Sidibé, Jeffrey Henson Scales, Samuel Fosso and others. As the gallery noted: 

"The Photographers’ Gallery presents Made You Look: Dandyism and Black Masculinity, a group exhibition exploring the identity of the black dandy as performed in studio and street photographs from London to New York to Bamako. In the early 21st century, black men are influential trendsetters in fashion, music and culture. This increased prominence however, has not had an impact on the state of high vulnerability still experienced by black men - as illustrated by disproportionate rates of incarceration the UK and USA. Dandyism, with its emphasis on dress and flamboyance, is examined as radical personal politics and a provocative counter to stereotypical representations and physical objectification of black masculinity. This exhibition seeks to consciously problematise ideas of a male identity through dress and deportment that is arresting, tantalising, louche, camp and gloriously assertive."

more infos: The Photographer's Gallery