Åsa Johannesson’s Web of Rebellion

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Catherine Opie's Self-Portrait/Cutting from 1993 captures the artist’s posterior: Her short-cropped hair and bare back are framed against a vibrant, green floral damask reminiscent of the opulent settings found in paintings from the era of King Henry VIII. A drawing scratched onto her skin depicts a peaceful scene of lesbian domesticity. In  her new book, Queer Methodology for Photography, Åsa Johannesson exquisitely unravels new and intriguing meanings behind Opie’s powerful image along with 26 more photographs produced by LGBTQ+ artists.

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Johannesson’s pages examine the relationship between queer identity, representation, and art across photography, installation, and writing. Contrasting approaches to queer photography intertwine—from the spontaneous to the meticulously planned. A nuanced dialogue unfolds between the works by international photographers and creatives such as Del LaGrace Volcano, Sunil Gupta, Tessa Boffin, Lyle Ashton Harris, Ajamu X, and Duane Michals. Some visuals are pixelated and grainy, some are Polaroid emulsion, and others are double exposed or 3-D sculpted.

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With Queer Methodology for Photography, Johannesson proposes a new way of understanding the photographic image through the lens of poetry and politics, beyond the binaries of representation. The London-based Swedish artist’s practice is rooted in deciphering hidden layers, an approach she honed in her Ph.D. thesis entitled “The Queering of Photography: A Generative Encounter,” which she completed at the Royal College of Art in London in 2019. Now a senior lecturer at the University of Brighton, Johannesson offers insightful commentary on queer culture, desire, and the complexities of identity within modern society through her essays, and her images of everyday life—stylistically the lineage of Rineke Dijkstra, Diane Arbus, and Nan Goldin—often focus on the masks people tend to wear as a response to expectations imposed by society. In her new book, Johannesson turns her gaze to the work of others, shining a light on the beautiful complexities of the queer experience.

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Åsa Johannesson’s Queer Methodology for Photography is available online now.