Resume

Chris Johnson is currently a tenured Professor of Photography at the California College of the Arts where for 10 years he served as President of the Faculty Senate and for 11 years, Chair of the Photography Program.

Chris Johnson is the creator of the Question Bridge project and co-Director w/ Hank Willis Thomas of Question Bridge: Black Males, Winner of the 2015 ICP Infinity Award.

This project is currently in the permanent collections of:

The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

The Oakland Museum of California

The Brooklyn Museum of Art

The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture

As co-producer of performance works with Suzanne Lacy, grants from The Rockefeller Foundation Walter and Elise Haas; LEF Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, Tamarack Foundation, McKesson Foundation; work in the collection of Smithsonian Institution, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum, Center For Creative Photography.

Chris Johnson is the author of The Practical Zone System: for Film and Digital Photography; currently in its 6^th edition published by Focal Press in the West and Zhejiang Photographic Press in China..  

From 1999 – 2005 he served as Chair of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission and from 1997 to 2000 he was Director of the Mother Jones International Fund for Documentary Photography.

As a member, Public Art Management Team, Port of Oakland, Chris Johnson is the originator of and Project Manager for the Media Wall currently installed in the Oakland International Airport.

He has also been Chair of the Board of the Oakland Art Gallery.

As an active member of the art community in the San Francisco Bay Area, he served as President of San Francisco Camerawork Gallery from 1982 to 1987, and was a founding member and Vice-Chair of the City of Oakland Public Art Advisory Committee.

In 1990 he helped establish the House of Photography in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Born: Brooklyn, New York, November 22, 1948

Education: Studied photography with Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham,Wynn Bullock

Related Professional Positions:  

2017-2021   Arts, Culture and Community Development , Web-based video creative documentation of six community development projects for PolicyLink, Oakland   
                     
Question Bridge: Black Males Installations: (selected)            

              2019       Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, Porter College, UCSC

              2019       Wallis Annenberg Hall, University of Southern Calif.
  
              2018      Harvey Gantt Center, Charlotte, NC

              2017        Question Bridge: Black Males, Oakland Museum

              2016  Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture

              2015        Philips Collection, Washington DC
                                                          
Other Selected Exhibitions:            

2018      State of the Art – Group show, R.Blitzer Gallery, Santa Cruz CA

2018     “A Question of Faith” - A billboard and bus shelter project  Oakland Museum of California

                                                                                     
Performance Works/Community Projects:

2016                   The Best Way to Find a Hero, Who is Oakland Exhibition, Oakland Museum of California

2015                   The Oakland Fence Project, Oakland CA

2013-present       Wisdom Arc Time Machine/interactive digital installation, SF, Exploratorium
        

Selected Curatorial Projects:     
                 
                  2015                   “Who is Oakland?”, Oakland Museum of California
                                   
Selected Published Work:

2015                   Question Bridge: Black Males in America, Aperture

2016                   The Practical Zone System for Digital and Film Photography, Sixth Edition

Honors & Awards

2015 International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award

2017 Question Bridge: Black Males was inducted into the permanent collection, Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture

Selected Exhibitions/Performance Works/Community Projects:

2014 - Birmingham Museum of Art

2013 - Corcoran Museum of Art, Washington DC

            San Francisco Exploratorium

            Dusable Museum of African American Culture, Chicago, ILL

            Harvey Gantt Center, Charlotte NC

2012 - Sundance Film Festival

           Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

           Brooklyn Museum, New York

2009 - Question Bridge installations in Los Angeles and Long Beach - Phantom Gallery

2002 - "Being There- 45 Oakland Artists" Oakland Museum

2001 - "Capturing Light: Materpieces of California Photography 1850-2000" Oakland Museum

2001 Bomani Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2000 - "Reflections in Black: A History of Black Photographers -1840 to the Present".
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC and other venues

1996 - "Question Bridge", a video project on class divisions within the black community; part of Re:Public @ MOPA in San Diego w/ Richard Bolton, James Luna, Kaucyila Brooke, Richard Lou, Robert Sanchez & Danielle Michaels

1995- "Oakland Teens and Police Project.

1994 - "Race, Representation and Media", consultant to Southern Exposure Gallery on project in Balboa High School, San Francisco

1994 -"The Roof is on Fire", performance work, w/Suzanne Lacy, Oakland California

1994 - 20th Anniversary Show, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco

1993 - The Family Seen, S.F. Camerawork Gallery

1993 - Oakland Media Literacy Project, Seminar for Oakland High School faculty

1993 - Polaroid Exhibition, Spectrum Gallery, San Francisco

1993 - One-Person retrospective, Manchester Craftsman's Guild, Pittsburgh, Penn.

1992 - Selections 6, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1993 - "Iris Suite", Polaroid  International Collection

1992 - Photokina, Cologne, Germany

1992 - "Photo-Biographers" Atlanta Gallery of Photography

1992 -"Teenage Livingroom", performance work, w/Suzanne Lacy, Oakland California

1992- "Popular Culture and Media Literacy", Experimental class @ Oakland Technical High School w/Suzanne Lacy

1990 - Group Show, "Oakland's Photographers 90", Oakland Museum

1988 - Selections 4 Polaroid International Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum in London and other European venues

Selected Published Work:

2007 - The Practical Zone System: for Film and Digital Photography

2001 "Wynn Bullock 55", Introductory text w/Barbara Bullock
Published by Phaidon Press

2000 "Emerging Bodies: Nudes from the Polaroid Collection"
Editions Stemmie, Zurick, Switzerland

1994 - "Wynn Bullock", essay in Lenswork Quarterly

1994 - The Practical Zone System, Focal Press, Second Edition

1986 - The Practical Zone System, Focal Press

1988 - "Contemporary Photographers" An anthology, St. James Press

Curatorial Projects

1997 - "Transformation", The Work of Mariette Pathy Allen,             
1996 - "Lonely Woman" The Work of Julio Mitchel, Iris Gallery,
1991 - "Disputed Identities" Traveling show, SF Camerawork Gallery

1986 - "Inside/Out", The Work of Lonny Shavelson/ Mary Ellen Mark

1978 - "Ansel Adams", Neary Gallery, Santa Cruz, California

1978 - "Silver and Wood", The Work of Brett Weston, Santa Cruz, California

1977 - "Imogen Cunningham", Japan

Collections

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Oakland Museum

Center For Creative Photography, Tucson

Polaroid International Collection

Selected Awards

Polaroid Corporation - Foundation Artist Grant, 1987-87-92

Lectures, Panels and Conference Papers:

2000 - 2002 Selection Panelist: Soros Foundation Fellowship
Open Society Institute, The Center on Crime, Communities & Culture

2000 Lecture: "The Mother Jones Photo Fund and Documentary Photography"
3er Encuentro de Fotoperiodismo Méx-US, Tijuana, Mexico

1998 Lecture: "Roy Decarava: Is He a Black Photographer?"
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

1999 Selection Panelist: Soros Foundation Fellowship
Open Society Institute, The Center on Crime, Communities & Culture

1997 On My Work: Society for Photographic Education
Regional Conference, Oakland, CA

1996 Panelist, "Towards a Critical Analysis of Public Art"
CAA Conference, Boston MA

1995 Lecture, (w/John Bloom), "The Meaning Of Photography"
Looking at Art With Artists series
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

1995 Panelist, "Not Born to be a Gangsta"
Documentary film for S.A.I.D. Communications Group

1994 Speaker: "Existence- The Later Work of Wynn Bullock"
Ansel Adams Gallery Pacific Grove, California

1994 Speaker: "The History of the Future: Northern California Artists Organizations"
Panel Discussion, Southern Exposure Gallery
San Francisco, California

1994 Speaker: "The Purple Crayon: Aesthetics and Community",
Panel Discussion, Southern Exposure Gallery
San Francisco, California

1993 Speaker, "Family Views: History and Multiplicity"
Panel Discussion, SF Camerawork Gallery
San Francisco, California

1992 Panelist, "Towards A Culturally Inclusive Art Education"
San Francisco Arts Institute

1992 Speaker: Media Literacy and Popular Culture, SPE Conference
Santa Barbara, California

1991 Speaker: Mapping the Terrain, Public Art Symposium, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

1991 Presenter, SPE Regional Conference
Buelleton, California

1990 Panelist, "What is Black Art?"
Hatley/Martin Gallery, San Francisco, California

1990 Lecture, Viewpoints: Discussions w/ California Artists
Oakland Museum

1986 Lecture w/Lonny Shavelson, Spring Lecture Series
SF Camerawork Gallery

1986 Lecturer, Viewpoints: Discussions with California Artists
Oakland Museum

Teaching Experience:

1977-present -Professor of Photography (tenured)

California College of the Arts, Oakland California

Miscellaneous

1996 - Panel Speaker - "Beauty, Invention and Good Intentions: Towards a Critical Analysis of Public Art", CAA Conference, Boston - with Suzanne Lacy, William Strickland.

1995 - Co-Instructor (w/John Bloom) "The Meaning Of Photography

Looking at Art with Artists Series, SF Museum of Modern Art

1994 - Speaker: "Existence- The Later Work of Wynn Bullock"

Ansel Adams Gallery Pacific Grove, California

1994 - Speaker: "The History of the Future: Northern California Artists Organizations"

   Panel Discussion, Southern Exposure Gallery

1994 - Speaker: "The Purple Crayon: Aesthetics and Community",

   Panel Discussion, Southern Exposure Gallery

1992/94/96 - Reviewer: FOTOFEST, Houston Texas

1992 - Speaker: Media Literacy and Popular Culture, SPE Conference

1992 - Consultant, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, NEH Grant

1991 - Speaker: Mapping the Terrain, Public Art Symposium, SFMOMA

1985-95 - President, CCAC Faculty Senate