[1] Johnson Artur works as a photojournalist and editorial photographer for various fashion magazines and record labels all over the world, as well as her independent artistic practice.
She has a collaborative attitude toward her work and makes close connections with her subjects as a way of respecting the vulnerability they show by letting her into their spaces.
Though some photos are posed, the attention Johnson Artur pays to each individual’s sense of self presentation lends an element of authenticity to the work.
[3] In an interview with The Photographers' Gallery she described this need to represent the personal style and the people she is capturing: "This way I believe photography can show us something very unique and still familiar.
This solo exhibition, curated by Drew Sawyer, featured material from the Black Balloon Archive, including the artist's photo sketchbooks.
The show was curated by Jörg Koopmann and also included artists Jacob Holdt, David Hartt, William E. Jones, and Jason Larkin.
Twelve of Johnson Artur’s photographs from the Black Balloon Archive were included in this group photography exhibition, curated by Ekow Eshun.
The theme of the show was to explore the complications of the identity of the black dandy, how these men are trendsetters in many media realms while also at a high degree of vulnerability and at risk of state violence and incarceration.
[3] She has photographed the likes of Mos Def, Blur, Amy Winehouse, the Spice Girls and toured with M.I.A, Lady Gaga, and Seun Kuti.
[6] It began in 1991 and is an ongoing project that involves a desire to create powerful images of the black diaspora and is motivated by a hunger to make connections with communities which, until her mid twenties, she barely knew existed.
[11] Black Balloon Archive is a project whose goal is to show respect to her subject’s ability to control how they are presented in their own lives by honestly representing that image.
In a media climate that often dehumanizes black people and uses their images in unethical ways, Artur’s body of work is especially important as she focuses on her subjects’ ability to self-determine how they present and are seen by the viewer.
Working in conjunction with journalist Sarah Bentley, the project focuses on black Russians who have grown up without either or both of their parents and who collectively describe themselves as Afro-Russians.