David Johnson: The States Project: Missouri

David Johnson: The States Project: Missouri by Jess T. DuganJanuary 11, 2017

©David Johnson

David Johnson was one of the first people I met after moving to St. Louis in 2014. An online search for local photographers led me to his website, and he graciously agreed to meet me for lunch and proceeded to help me get acquainted with the local art community. Originally from Texas, Dave received his MFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007, where he has been living and working ever since.

Since 2007, he has made several bodies of work, including It Can Be This Way Always, a long term project documenting the Kerrville Folk Festival in central Texas, an annual 18-day event that has been in existence since 1972; Your Walls Aren’t That White, a series investigating the physicality of the museum and gallery exhibition space; and his most recent project, Wig Heavier than a Boot, a collaborative project (with poet Phillip Matthews) that brings together photography, poetry, and video to inspire a conversation about gender expression and individuality.

Dave is an integral part of the art community in St. Louis and I’m grateful to call him a friend. With that, I introduce David Johnson.

Wig Heavier than a Boot

Wig Heavier than a Boot is a collaborative project that brings together photography, poetry, and video by photographer David Johnson and poet Philip Matthews. Intersecting art-making rituals with performative acts in the rural landscape, the project roots itself in a consciousness who calls herself Petal, as whom Matthews manifests and Johnson photographs. The photographs are a record of a ritual done as a gender-queer body in a rural environment, which provide the foundation from which the poems can be written. The resulting works reveal dynamic relationships between author, character, and observer. By articulating a creative process in which one identity becomes two, the project in turn opens up a conversation about gender expression and individuality.