'Animal Portraiture'
After a period of time living with 1st Nation Indians in Canada and absorbing some of their rituals and shamanic culture, in particular, Animal Medicine. I am developing a way of photographing the animal within. Like Irvin Penn and the anthropological impulse of his worlds in a small room, I am taking portraits in small dark spaces illuminating the animal essence I believe to be in each of us. To uncover this primaeval essence we must leave the light of description and travel into the metaphor of dark and the night. The animal comes alive at night and paradoxically in the darkness is hidden the possibility of real revelation. Animal Portraiture reveals a side of us that usually remains latent, much like the un-developed image in an unprocessed film. Animal Portraiture has the potential to reveal more about a subject than that which can merely be seen.
Exhibitions
2005
‘Swansea Open’ (Photography) (annual exhibition) Glynn Vivian Art Gallery Swansea UK
30 July - 10 Sept
2003
'Swansea Institute of Higher Education' (Photography) Swansea UK
Dec 2001 - June 2003
'I In My Intricate Image' B.A. Hons Photojournalism Graduation Show 'Brick Lane Gallery, London UK 12 - 26 June
'Graduate Showcase' (Photography) Exposure Gallery, Swansea UK July - October
Poetry in Motion' (Photography) The Grand Theatre, Swansea UK September - October
2002
'Episode 2' (Photography) The Grand Theatre, Swansea UK June - July
Ongoing project 2002-19
Louisa Helen Johnson - Copyright July 2002-19











