Carretera Uyuni-Tupiza, Bolivia, 2015. | Photo: Heather Johnson.
In February 2013, artist Heather Johnson began preparations for a cross-country motorcycle journey from New York to Joshua Tree, where she would complete a month long residency at BoxoProjects' BoxoHouse residency program. When I met Bernard Leibov, who directs the BoxoHouse residency, she says, I was searching for a means of changing my practice and everything surrounding it, my entire life, really... I basically said yes to his invitation without even thinking it through, just knowing somehow I would be able to figure it out. But she had not yet fully arrived at the idea of becoming nomadic.
She began writing about the journey in a blog she called In Search of the Frightening and Beautiful. More than the sum of its parts, her blog offered insight into a practice that was becoming increasingly ephemeral, signaling a metaphoric journey as much as a physical trek. The blog would encompass her preparations, journey, residency and the work she created at BoxoHouse. It would also include accounts of her return to New York, a culminating exhibition at BoxoProjects' New York space and subsequent projects. Johnson would later also name her real life cross-country odyssey In Search of the Frightening and Beautiful. Over the next three years, the undertaking would expand to include three increasingly ambitious journeys.
Embroidery would play a big part in the project, and, in her blog, she wrote that she planned to appropriate faded texts, architectural plans, weather maps, old newspaper or magazine articles -- anything revealing the history of this place [the Mojave] in relation to the unique qualities of its landscape.
An embroidery in progress. | Photo: Heather Johnson.
--
--
Long before her departure for the Mojave, Johnson was making embroidered works that resemble drawings, and leaving them in the landscape as a gesture. As influences, she counts artists like Francis Al s, who simply make gestures. Maybe they'll go out and move something, and they'll walk away. I love artists who have this ability to redirect your gaze by doing something simple. (Al s, an artist whose work draws from social practice as well as interactions with the landscape, is known for works like When Faith Moves Mountains (2002), in which he worked with 500 volunteers outside of Lima, Peru to shift the location of a sand dune.)
Cracks in the Pavement, Johnson's earlier geocaching-styled project in Austin, Texas, and The Pickup, her New York collaboration with artist Eleanor Eichenbaum, reflect her interest in indirect gestures. For both projects, Johnson posted maps online directing others to the work. In Austin, she says, there was a veritable feeding frenzy of enthusiastic people looking for art; it also helped that this project involved a large number of national and international artists.
In New York, with The Pickup, Johnson and Eichenbaum collected stories from fellow New Yorkers and hand-embroidered abridged versions on found, vintage handkerchiefs, placing them close to the sites identified in the stories.
An embroidery left at a playground in Bogot , Colombia, 2015. | Photo: Heather Johnson.
According to Johnson, environmental concerns are also important and were definitely embedded in her project early on. A lot of my motivations for it came out of my relationship to the landscape and its use... Desert Cantos [Richard Misrach's photographs of the American desert] was a huge inspiration, and that was one of the things that did in fact make me excited about going to the desert.
She also identifies earthworks artists as influences, especially Robert Smithson. The fact that he worked in the desert, Johnson notes, but also that he did a lot of his earlier work in New Jersey and was really interested in these dystopian, kind of boring, discarded types of landscapes also inspired her.
Once I got to the desert and came to know it, she recalls, there was something about the quality of that landscape in particular that enhanced [my] fascination with the destruction of things, of things you find out in the world that are incredibly dried and brittle and faded.
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. | Photo: Courtesy of Heather Johnson.
Although, from a particular point of view, Johnson's writing, motorcycling and embroidery coalesce in an enveloping project, she is reluctant to think of these things together in a Fluxus-like melding of life and art into a fluid performance. In an email exchange, Johnson noted that although her movement by motorcycle informs the rest of her process and the objects she makes, she thinks of performance as needing rules and structures while most of her decisions, especially aesthetic ones, require her to be fluid and spontaneous.
Johnson says she thinks of her writing as a way of delving into things that her visual art does not. Even so, writing leads her to make decisions about what she wants to make as an artist. Do they [her writing and visual art] live alongside each other? she asks. I don't know. That's a question I have not figured out yet, and I'm in the middle of that right now, figuring out how the physical artwork that I make and the written language live together.
Within this ambiguity, she is clear on motorcycling's importance: I started riding motorcycles in New York City about nine years ago, and that discovery -- the act of riding -- totally changed my life and is instrumental to how I live it now. The act of riding is akin to what I imagine flying to be like. You move in this very fluid, fast way through the landscape, and this was particularly liberating to me as a woman, she concludes. It changed my work.
Heather Johnson, Clutch, thread on linen, 2012. | Photo: Courtesy of the artist.
Motorcycling's liberating effect seems
Most recent headlines
17/02/2025
TVBEurope talks to the team who brought a piece of broadcasting history back to life on BBC Wales last night
By Jenny Priestley
Published: February 14, 2025 ...
17/02/2025
Eligible studios will receive the relief directly from their local authorities, with no need to submit a claim
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 17, 20...
17/02/2025
As DEI initiatives come under pressure in the USA, supporters of Rise, which promotes diversity in the media and entertainment sector, discuss the continuing im...
17/02/2025
EIB Global loan will partially fund SES's continued O3b mPOWER medium earth orbit (MEO) fleet expansion enabling additional capacity worldwide. O3b mPOWER s...
15/02/2025
At Nielsen, Business Resource Groups (BRGs) play a critical role in nurturing a ...
15/02/2025
Innovation to empower creativity: Explore the latest in Lightroom
Rob Christensen February 15, 2025
0 Comments
Whether you want to remove distracting ...
15/02/2025
Wisycom, a worldwide leader in RF technology and provider of wireless solutions, announces a new distribution agreement with EQUAPHON. An Argentinian profession...
15/02/2025
DPA Microphones, the leading manufacturer of high-quality microphone solutions, is pleased to welcome Nicholas Nick Mariano and Vincent Vince Divine to the ...
15/02/2025
Tuxera, a leading provider of quality-assured file systems and networking solutions, will showcase how Tuxera Fusion SMB enables unprecedented performance for m...
15/02/2025
Bitmovin's latest Video Developer Report indicates an increasing role of AI, the slow adoption of next-generation codecs, and continuing challenges when it ...
15/02/2025
When Michelin Enterprises set out to promote its prestigious Hotel Guide in the new Sleepless in the Kitchen , campaign, veteran German/Slovenian gaffer Robert...
15/02/2025
Formula E, the world's first all-electric racing series, revolutionizing motorsport with cutting-edge technology and a commitment to sustainability has sele...
15/02/2025
Agile Content, a global leader in TV and video technology solutions, announces its rebranding to AgileTV.
The transition to AgileTV stems from a commitment to ...
15/02/2025
Hiltron Communications will promote the latest additions to its range of satellite communication products, systems and supporting services at GovSatCom 2025. Th...
15/02/2025
Following the success of the original Airglow Booklight, DoPchoice debuts a new addition to their inflatable line the Float. This lightweight, inflatable, round...
15/02/2025
LAS VEGAS Marshall Electronics has announced that it will debut its newest camera controller, the RCP Plus, at the 2025 NAB Show at Booth N2649 between April 5 ...
15/02/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Blake Sebo as the next general manager of KTUU and KYES, Gray's NBC and CBS affiliates in Anchorage, Alaska....
15/02/2025
KOKKEDAL, Denmark DPA Microphones will feature its new CORE+ technology for distortion-free microphone sound at the 2025 NAB Show, April 5-9, in Las Vegas....
15/02/2025
SWANSEA, U.K. QuickLink will launch StudioPro-NDI and StudioPro-3, two new models of its QuickLine StudioPro video production platform, at the 2025 NAB Show, Ap...
15/02/2025
Live From 2025 NBA All-Star Game Weekend: After 25 Years, Turner Sports All-In F...
15/02/2025
NASCAR Driver Cam on Max Embraces Cloud-Based Workflow for 2025 Season Chris Brown of WBD Sports says Mobii will play key part in delivering signals from the tr...
14/02/2025
Last month, we officially launched the Spotify Partner Program, a powerful new m...
14/02/2025
From an island off the coast of Lutruwita to the global stage in France SBS & ...
14/02/2025
The future of electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) land systems is evolving so that ...
14/02/2025
Here are 5 reasons why you should attend ISE 2025
Discover more about Calrec: Learn more about Calrec's legacy of innovation in broadcast audio solutions ...
14/02/2025
World Radio Day: On the same wavelength
By Graham Murray, International Sales Manager at Calrec
To mark World Radio Day, Calrec's International Sales Ma...
14/02/2025
DALLAS and TYSONS, Va. Tegna has concluded a broadcast rights agreement that makes Tegna's KFAA in Dallas the exclusive local television partner of the Dall...
14/02/2025
Amazon's Prime Video has released a new app for Apple TV that the streamer said delivers an improved streaming experiences with faster scrolling, improved s...
14/02/2025
CLEVELAND Telos Alliance announced a software update for its Axia Quasar XR and SR line of audio-over-IP (AoIP) mixing consoles and will show the offering at th...
14/02/2025
Puget Systems Returns to HPA Tech Retreat 2025 with New Analysis Tools for Puge...
14/02/2025
Glass Animals: Tour of Earth Uses Blackmagic Live Production Workflow
Brie Clayton February 14, 2025
0 Comments
80six deploys Blackmagic URSA Broadcas...
14/02/2025
A dispute between Paramount and Youtube TV that would have pulled CBS stations and Paramount's cable channels from the streaming service has been temporaril...
14/02/2025
Colourist Deidre (Dee) McClelland details how she helped shape the distinct look and feel of whimsical Oscar-nominated stop-motion film, Memoir of a Snail
By C...
14/02/2025
BitFire said it intends to introduce forward-looking services that simplify the launch of live production workflows, and enhance real-time collaboration
By Jen...
14/02/2025
The claim by the liquidators is the latest twist in the ongoing saga of the companys collapse at the end of 2021
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: February 14, ...
14/02/2025
A carriage dispute between YouTube TV and Paramount could come to a head today (Feb. 13), with the virtual pay TV provider threatening to pull all of the progra...
14/02/2025
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. LG Electronics USA has opened a new in-house, state-of-the-art virtual production studio at its 360,000-square-foot North American headqu...
14/02/2025
NEW YORK In a bid to help local broadcasters find new ways of monetizing their content, the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM) and TVB have relea...
14/02/2025
WASHINGTON Three Democratic U.S. Senators have sent a stern letter blasting FCC Chair Brendan Carr for the weaponization of the agency for attacking broadcast...
14/02/2025
Years after launching the streaming service Apple TV+ in November of 2019, Apple has finally released a version of its steaming app for Android devices....
14/02/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. Red Digital Cinema will make its V-RAPTOR [X] and KOMODO-X camera systems available with Nikon's premier Z Mount, providing filmmaker...
14/02/2025
DAYTONA, Fla. The Fox Sports production of this year's Daytona 500 will see the addition of a few new tech elements and the continued unfolding of the broad...
14/02/2025
Watch Bryson Battles Blind Audition on The Voice Get a Four-Chair Turn Michael Bubl said the Boston Conservatory at Berklee musical theater senior might have...
14/02/2025
2025 Daytona 500: FOX Sports Looks To Ride Super Bowl LIX Momentum Into NASCAR S...
14/02/2025
14 Feb 2025
VEON's Kyivstar and the Come Back Alive Foundation Raise USD 2....
14/02/2025
Max Renews THE PITT, Starring Noah Wyle, For A Second Season
Max
Warner Bros. Television Group
The Pitt
New Episodes Of The Medical Drama From John...
14/02/2025
This year, Technicolor proudly celebrates 110 years of shaping the magic of cinema pioneering color, visual effects, and innovation that bring unforgettable l...
14/02/2025
NBA All-Star: More Games, More Teams, More Music, More Sound From the Court Turner Sports' team will deploy familiar tech to capture all the audio By Dan D...
14/02/2025
LIV Golf Continues To Innovate With Drones, Data-Driven Graphics, and All-Access...
Carretera Uyuni-Tupiza, Bolivia, 2015. | Photo: Heather Johnson. 
