Art Exhibits

The Bottom is a series of photographs that are an investigation of the historic neighborhood Old South Baton Rouge in Louisiana. This is the community that I live in and it has a complex history of systemic and environmental segregation. I am making photographs of the landscape, residents and historical documents to look at how the past has shaped this area. I use the highway built in the 1960s as the framework for this series, focusing on government decisions that built elevated highways through low income neighborhoods. While examining this history, I am also documenting the future, as the highway is currently being expanded, with homes and businesses set to be torn down again.

Much of this area was originally the Magnolia Mound Plantation, and when it was sold it was divided into small shotgun lots, by design creating a low-income neighborhood. It was segregated in the 1950s, and during this time period it was a thriving self-sustaining community. It was in the process of desegregation and the building of the I-10 highway bisecting it into two that drove the area to collapse in the 1960s. The title The Bottom is a name given to the neighborhood due to half of it being settled below a fault line, an area that sits at “the bottom” and historically floods.

I photograph city plans and maps juxtaposed with torn down houses and my neighbors to create a portrait of this community. I recognize that histories are often told from the person with the most power and I understand my privilege in making these photographs. I work closely with my neighbors photographing repeatedly and collaboratively to carefully negotiate my responsibility in how I am representing them. I hope the deteriorating infrastructure and highway can speak to the history of segregation while I strive for the portraits to show the happiness, anger, love and sadness of the residents. I carefully consider the use of color and black and white to portray a blur between past and present, with the neighborhood youth caught in the in-between. In exhibition, the highway images are hung high on the wall to represent its domination over the area. I want to create evidence showing the complexities of both people and place, and my experience living here. There is little visual history that exists for this area despite its historic importance during the civil rights era. I photograph to make a record that can hopefully draw a connection between past decisions and current consequences.

– Johanna Warwick

Johanna Warwick
Currently resides in Baton Rouge, LA
Citizenship: Canadian & British
617.838.8314 
johannawarwick@gmail.com
www.johannawarwick.com

Education
Masters of Fine Art, Photography, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, 2010
Bachelor of Fine Art w/Honors, Photography, Ryerson University, 2006 (Toronto, Canada)

Solo & Two Person Exhibitions

• 2020 The Bottom, Goodwyn Gallery, Montgomery, AL. Monuments to Strangers, Fayetteville University, Fayetteville, NC.
• 2019 The Bottom, SESAH, Greenville SC.
  The Bottom, Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, Russia.
  The Bottom, Space Place, Nigni Tagil, Russia.
• 2018 The Bottom, Glassell Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA
  Monuments to Strangers, Martin Hall Gallery, Mobile AL.
  Monuments to Strangers, Holy Family Gallery, Philadelphia PA.
  Monuments to Strangers, Basin Arts, Lafayette, LA.
• 2017 We Live in the Gaps Between the Stories, Artspace Gallery, Richmond, VA., with Kristine Thompson
  We Live in the Gaps Between the Stories, FrontierSpace, Missoula, MT., with Kristine Thompson
• 2016 Monuments to Strangers, VisCom Gallery, Dallas, TX.
• 2015 Between the Ground & Sky, The Center for Theoretical Physics MIT, Cambridge, MA.
• 2014 Between the Ground & Sky, The Mayor’s Gallery, Boston, MA.
• 2012 The Best Thing You’ve Never Seen, The Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, CANADA
• 2006 The Weight of the World, Ryerson Gallery, Toronto, CANADA

Selected Group Exhibitions

• 2019 Boundaries and Borders, Peck School of the Arts Art Center Gallery, WI.
  Blindspots, Sager Braudis Gallery, Columbia, MO.
  Urban Dance, The Plaxall Gallery, Long Island City, NY. Curated by Orestes Gonzales & John Bennette.
  Small Works, Sager Braudis Gallery, Columbia, MO.
  Pop Up Pepper, Roger Williams Gallery, Manchester, NH. Curated by Yoav Horesh & Brian O’Connor.
• 2018 Material + Meaning, Firehouse Gallery, Baton Rouge, LA. Curated by Russell Lord.
  SlowExposures, Cochran Gallery, LaGrange, GA. Curated by Aline Smithson & Alexa Dilworth.
  The Past is Present, Atlanta Photography Group Gallery, Atlanta, GA. Curated by Beth Lilly.
  Addressing Power, CFA Downtown Studio, Albuquerque, NM. Curated by Abbey Hepner.
  Alternative to What? Sulfur Studios, Savannah, GA. Curated by Bridget Conn.
  Transformation, College of the Mainland Art Gallery, Texas City, TX. Curated by Kristy Peet.
  Equality Matters, Conversations on Gender & Race, Mildred M. Cox Gallery, Fulton MO. Curated by Nicole Petrescu.
• 2017 SPESC Educators Exhibition, The Art Center of Waco, TX. Curated by Deborah Lillie.
  40 Under 40, Fort Works Art, Fort Worth, TX. Curated by Maggie Adler, Associate Curator at Amon Carter Museum of Art.
  Recollections, New Orleans Photo Alliance, New Orleans, LA. Curated by Russell Lord, Curator of Photography at New Orelans Museum of Art.
  Call & Response: Art as Resistance, online & public slideshow hosted in collaboration with Strange Fire Collective and the Center for Fine Art Photography, Colorado Photographic Arts Center and Month of Photography Denver. Curated by Zora J Murff, Hamidah Glasgow, Jess T. Dugan and Rafael Soldi.
• 2016 Unshadowed, The Front, New Orleans, LA., with Joey Tipton & Jessica Vogel. Curated by Jessica Vogel.
  34th Annual Juried Membership Exhibit, Houston Center for Photography, Houston, TX. Curated by Yasufumi Nakamori.
  Re-Context, Colorado Center for Photography, Denver, CO. Curated by Ariel Shanberg.
  LSU School of Art Faculty Exhibition, Baton Rouge, LA.
  Louisiana Fine Art Showcase, Hammond, LA. Curated by Lily Brooks.
  American Woman, Slocumb Gallery ETSU, Johnson City, TN. Curated by Al Miner.
• 2015 The Altered Landscape, Clamp Light Gallery, San Antonio, TX. Curated by Tom Turner.
  Fresh, Klompching Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Curated by Darren & Debra Klompching.
• 2014 2014 Frames Projecting International Photography, Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow International Art Festival, Glasgow, SCOTLAND. Curated by Clare Samuel.
  Lens 2014, Perspective Gallery, Evanston, IL.
  Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Exhibition, Newtonville, MA.
• 2013 The Ties That Bind, Calumet Gallery, Cambridge, MA.
  Faculty Exhibition, Cole Art Center, Nacogdoches, TX.
  Onward Compe, Project Basho, Philadelphia, PA. Curated by Mark Steinmetz.
• 2012 Equivalents, NW Photo Center, Seattle, WA.
  MassArt Alumni Show, Fountain Studios, NYC, NY.
• 2011 New Blood, Phoenix Gallery, NYC, NY.
  Chain Letter, Samson Projects, Boston, MA.
• 2010 The Ryerson Gallery Seen Through The David Oliver Collection, Ryerson Gallery, Toronto, CANADA
  Work, New Orleans Alliance of Photography, New Orleans, LA.
  Art of Photography, San Diego, CA.
  Plus, Minus, Multiply, Divide, Brandt Gallery, Boston, MA.
  Emerging Artist Auction, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, NYC, NY.
  Boston Young Contemporaries, 808 Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA.
  Thesis Exhibition, Bakalar/Paine Gallery, Boston, MA.
  Senior/Graduate Show, Add INC, Boston, MA
  Portraits, MPLS Photo Center, Minneapolis, MN
• 2009 High Art Kids, Black Box Studios, Los Angeles, CA.
  Midway Show, Paine Gallery, Boston, MA.
  Boston Young Contemporaries, 808 Commonwealth Gallery, Boston, MA.
• 2008 Hello My Name Is, Doran Gallery, Boston, MA.
• 2007 Flash Forward 3, Kathleen Cullen Fine Art, NYC, NY.
  EcoMedia Street Art Sponsorship Program, Toronto, CANADA
  Flash Forward 3, Lennox Contemporary, Toronto, CANADA
  Rising: Contact Festival, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto, CANADA
  Best of Show, First Canadian Place, Toronto, CANADA
  In Flight, Toronto International Airport, Toronto, CANADA
• 2006 Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, CANADA
  Maximum Exposure, Ryerson University, Toronto, CANADA
  Photo, Xpace Gallery, Toronto, CANADA
• 2005 Truth, Toronto Image Works Gallery, Toronto, CANADA
  Flash Forward, Lennox Contemporary, Toronto, CANADA
  Flash Forward, Redux Gallery, NYC, NY.
  Maximum Exposure, Ryerson University, Toronto CANADA
  Snap Photo Auction, Toronto, CANADA
  Snap Preview, Spin Gallery, Toronto, CANADA
  Third Year Show, The Ryerson Gallery, 80 Spadina, Toronto, CANADA
• 2004 Maximum Exposure, Ryerson University, Toronto, CANADA
  Niagara College Photo Exhibition, Niagara College, Niagara Falls, CANADA
  Snap Photo Auction, Toronto, CANADA
• 2003 First Year New Media Show, Element Bar, Toronto, CANADA

Publications

• 2018 Past & Present Tense, collaborative book with Kristine Thompson. Published by theretherenow. Edition of 100.

Permanent Collections
Texas A&M University, Dallas, TX.
The Center for Theoretical Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.