Grete Hjorth-Johansen is a London based Norwegian photographer, working on both commissioned and fine art projects. Hjorth-Johansen’s artistic background stretches from mural painting to graphic design and later DJing for the biggest names and venues in dance music. She has previously taught photography and darkroom techniques at various colleges.
Bridging the gap between photographic and painterly aesthetics, Hjorth-Johansen uses a vibrant colour palette of lighting to explore and describe the moods, emotions and atmospheres that she experiences around her. Love, grief, melancholy and anger are all recurring themes. Rather than documenting reality as it appears naturally, she aims to let her inner world spill its colours onto the surfaces of the simplest shapes, the mundane, the familiar. Hjorth-Johansen’s approach is to forge an intimate connection with her subject matter, and in doing so reveal something previously hidden or overlooked. Using lighting as paintbrushes, she aims to explore the shapes and textures of everything from vegetables to trees, turning them into otherworldly creatures and deities. While a sense of scale or natural context is lost, what is imagined takes over.
Self-taught or art school?
I studied Graphic Design in Norway before my Fine Art degree at Southampton Solent University. I am mostly self-taught in the practical side of photography. Learning never ends, and these days it’s easier than ever to find information. The business side of art is often overlooked in art programmes, so that’s a huge topic that has to be tackled after studies are completed.
If you could own one work of art what would it be?
I would love to own a Sandy Skoglund installation photo, any of them. Her very colourful and conceptual work has always inspired me. She has always had the most bizarre ideas that somehow make complete sense, that leave the viewer in deep thought while being amused and tickled by the absurdity of the images. All her work takes a huge amount of time to create too, that’s dedication!
How would you describe your style?
For me lighting is everything. I use colourful lights to bring out the hidden personalities and characteristics of my subjects. It’s all about drama, and how to make my subjects come alive and look powerful, even in a quiet way. To me everything is alive, and I want it to look that way too.
Is narrative important within your work?
I use narrative in the sense that I want to evoke feelings. A feeling is not a story but usually a result of having experienced something, a story that has unfolded. Melancholy, grief and anger are some of my favourite feelings to tackle as they aren’t particularly ‘nice’, but they are intense in both loud and quiet ways.
Who are your favourite artists and why?
I have so many favourites and for different reasons. I love Victoria Crowe’s paintings of trees, she manages to get so much detail into her work, so it’s a completely different experience to see her work from a distance or up close. The colours in Paul Gaugin’s paintings, so lush. Harald Solberg is a Norwegian artist who painted landscapes and sunsets and somehow managed to make them eerie rather than sentimental.
What or who inspires your art?
I look at painting more than photography, maybe because a painting is more detached from reality and therefore requires more active participation from the viewer. My biggest inspiration comes from my endless weekly walks in Epping Forest. There the trees look like sculptures of haunted souls and the tree bark offers a myriad of abstract patterns, colours and textures due to the various types of moss and lichen. I find the forest is the best art gallery I’ve ever visited.
Are there any recurring themes within your work and can you tell us about them?
In my photos from the forest, I do tend to concentrate on the human impact on the forest. The trees are wonky because they’ve been cut so many times. People have carved hearts onto the bark, and children build little shelters from sticks. Some of these actions are selfish, some are harmless, and some were necessary. Humans leave a trace where ever they go, that’s for sure.
Where’s your studio and what’s it like?
I’ve only just got a studio for the first time, it’s in Holborn, so very central in London. It’s a large room shared with three other people. I’m still just moving in, so I have no idea what it will be like! I think it’s important to have a place to go-to for artists, to facilitate new connections and collaborations.
Do you have any studio rituals?
Not yet!
What are you working on currently?
For the past three years, I have been slowly searching the whole of Epping Forest for what I call Lovehearts and photographing them. These are heart-shaped love carvings cut into the tree bark mostly on the smooth beech trees. It’s pure vandalism and injury from the trees’ point of view, but for us, these hearts bear witness to all the romantic activity in the forest through the decades. The oldest ones are from a century ago. The more gnarly and lumpy they look, the more I like them. Love isn’t perfect, and humans aren’t perfect either.
Where can we buy your art?
I have an online print shop on my website: https://gretehjorthjohansen.com/shop/
What are your ambitions?
Oh, it’s a bit secret but I’d love to paint. As a photographer, I already have a close relationship with form, colour and meaning, but the end result is always flat and tied to something physical and real. Painting opens up another world where anything is possible, and the texture of the surface becomes a new area to explore I think that might be the next step.
For more information visit:
https://gretehjorthjohansen.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ghjstudio/
You can also view Gretes work at FLUX Exhibition – Get your free ticket here.
