LAUREL JOHANNESSON

Beginning in the Spring of 2020, Laurel embarked on a new series of work entitled Situations. The series explores various psychological states of being through the use of the beach or shoreline as a temporal space for transformation. Laurel uses her own body and those of other doppelgängers, situating them in locations teeming with psychological and often physical tension. Subjects are frequently depicted in ambiguous scenarios or seemingly emotional states. These figures are situated in natural settings that Laurel photographs in remote, mystically-charged locations in Greece, typically featuring a shoreline or sea cave. She views the beach as a liminal site, a transformative space between two temporalities.

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The beach is an enchanting place, a threshold where the intimation of celestial powers is murmured by the vacillation of the tides. It is the quintessential liminal zone, neither land nor sea, an expanse of precariousness that reverberates with the sound of unpredictable seas. The beach can be placid, serene, and soporific, or unsettled, chaotic, and disconcerting. It is a margin that unveils a space of intensified sensations that are fleeting, idiosyncratic, and fugitive. The beach is often a place of naked truth, of judgement, and a site of initiation into consciousness.