Tanya P. Johnson: Edge of the Light

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Tanya P. Johnson, “Edge of the Light,” 2017

installation shot at Touchstones Museum of Art and History in Nelson, B.C., photo by Jeremy Addington

Recently, I have been transfixed each evening watching American news channels. Entering Edge of the Light is reminiscent of this nightly ritual. The exhibition is disturbing. It makes one question what is real and what is not. It is entirely captivating.

The exhibition, Tanya P. Johnson’s first substantive solo show, is on view at the Touchstones Museum of Art and History in Nelson, B.C., until May 28. Curator Arin Fay has populated the show with a large selection of re-assembled objects, several light boxes and various prints. Johnson’s process of deconstructing and reconstructing objects recalls the Dadaists and Surrealists as well as more recent artists, such as Betye Saar. Like Saar, Johnson draws on family photographs, found objects and spiritual fetishes to create ephemera that offer a political and cultural critique.

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Tanya P. Johnson, "Anthropomorph," 2015

found objects, animal bones and doll parts, 9" x 9" (photo by Jeremy Addington)

The assemblages, the largest part of the exhibition, are created from antique books, dolls and photographs, as well as natural materials such as fur, bones and porcupine quills. For instance, in Anthropomorph, Johnson adds splayed doll legs to animal vertebrae, transforming them into two figures topped with a washroom indicator that reads either Engaged or Vacant. Some assemblages are displayed in old museum cases, recalling the Victorian cabinet of curiosities, a grotesque aspect of the colonial era when animals, spiritual objects and even human remains were brought back from far-flung regions and displayed for the titillation of European audiences.

Tanya P. Johnson, “Beacon Book,” 2017

Tanya P. Johnson, “Beacon I,” 2016

Themes of engagement and vacuity play throughout the exhibition. Several of Johnson’s prints show a British figure of the early 1800s with a vacuum cleaner for a head. He is morally vacant, she seems to suggest, as resources from the colonies are sucked into the king’s coffers.

Johnson has an unusual perspective on colonialism and racism. Born in Kenya, and raised in South Africa, she travelled extensively in Europe before landing in B.C.’s Slocan Valley. In both her personal life and her art, Johnson is engaged in repairing settler society’s wounded relationship with indigenous people.

Johnson’s work also offers a critique of spirituality and gender. Using repetitive imagery, word play and metaphor, she offers a feast both visual and intellectual. The show is generally well installed, but there’s a jarring contrast between the carefully displayed assemblages and unframed prints, which could be more firmly affixed to the wall. However, this is a slight concern within an engrossing exhibition that’s far more rewarding than watching news from across the border.