AMY JOHNSON: SEASONS QUARTET

September 8 – November 22, 2023

WINTER: The Space Between, Chugach National Forest, Alaska, 2016

Two-channel video installation, original sound

In the dead of winter 2016, Amy Johnson set out on foot to make another film of a lone female persona — this time on a frozen lake in the Chugach National Forest. She wore a dress that she made of warm fabric and feathers  in the spirit of the Willow Ptarmigan, the state bird of Alaska and a master of camouflage. On the way to the lake, a storm suddenly descended forcing her and her team to stop and begin filming where they were in a deep snowy valley. Winter, with its relentless storms, is naturally a time for pause, but at that moment, Johnson’s performance took on a new meaning that spoke directly to the human capacity to adapt, reflect, and pause. Back in her studio, Johnson decided on the double projection to simulate a giant kaleidoscope — reflecting, folding, unfolding — recreating the disorienting winter whiteout. And she remembered the Japanese word Ma, which means pause or the space between. For example, Ma refers to the space between two musical notes or between breaths. In this context, winter is Ma — the space between the abundance and decay of autumn and the melt and rebirth of spring.