Johnnie Chatman - i forgot where we were…

Black and white. That is how we often see the world. Lens-based artist, Johnnie Chatman, puts the accent on Black history in the American West in his series of self-portraits.

Within the white walls of the Blue Sky Center for the Photographic Arts, 14 pictures break the monotony of the empty room. Deserted landscapes, abandoned beaches and rocky mountains follow one another creating interesting contrasts and a feeling of being inexplicably lost. The sole protagonist, a figure dressed in a dark, boxy suit poses against the most famous endless vistas of the American West.

Chatman has long been exploring the ideas and notions around landscape and its relationship with black history and this is his latest chapter. The West, much like the black body, possesses a meaning that can only be understood by those who have lived within it.

In Darkwater, Panel II, a single quote reads ‘It is not real. It is but shadows.’ These words could summarise the entire series of portraits: they are a dream, but unrealistic. Each self-portrait shines in its darkness like a firefly in the gloominess of the night.

The depth and greatness of the Grand Canyon disappear, becoming only a line in the distance and leaving the scene to the mysterious black figure. On the edge, left and right are almost symmetrical, blending in with the shadows of the canyon. Everything seems stuck in time, making you wonder what you will see next.

As you walk through the gallery, you feel observed. The Arches bewitch anyone with their imaginary edgy eye. The man is still there looking through it, looking for a connection. In the Valley of Fire, the figure is surrounded by the harshness of the mountains that seem to swallow it with their sharp lines.

From high, rocky landscapes, we’re transported to arid, desolate valleys. The Great Sand Dunes unravel like silk under the tiny figure standing still. The dune is so high that it almost touches the sky but it cuts it instead with its sharp edge. But a few metres from it, water runs fast in Cascade Falls. Like a vision, the white trail brightens the dark cave where life still stands in the form of a man. He’s there admiring the elegant dance of the waterfall like a curious child.

Darkwater, Panel I embodies the meaning that we, as humans, associate with the silence of the canyon, or the austerity of the desert. Blacks and whites contrast each other in every piece, but they’re merged together by the unseen history of these landscapes which represent the only signs that allow us to explore our cultures.

‘i forgot where we were’ is a brilliant and suggestive exhibition that makes you understand how relatively small we all are compared to the magnificence of these landscapes. Just like the figure in these self-portraits, we’re endlessly looking for a place that belongs to us but that we’ll never remember.