Antonio Johnson. Photo by Donovan X. Ramsey
Antonio Johnson is an emerging visual artist whose work focuses on concepts of home and healing. His primary medium is photography and, in just a few short years behind the camera, he has earned a reputation for capturing scenes that communicate the complex beauty of urban spaces and everyday people.
A self-taught photographer, his work is undeniably intimate, authentic and without frills. He achieves that through the relationships he establishes with subjects, embedding himself in their worlds. Additionally, his work is informed by a long history of images capturing black life with influences ranging from the work of Gordon Parks and Jamel Shabazz to Jeffrey Henson Scales, and Andre Wagner.
Johnson’s most recent project, You Next, focuses on barber shops as sites for the cultivation of black male identity and wellness. In exploring barber shops, he's interested in capturing how those spaces and the communities within them are constructed and maintained—who’s in the community, how do they interact when no one else is looking, and how does the visual language of barber shops contribute to the social service they provide.
Johnson was raised in West Philadelphia and educated at Morgan State University, a historically black college in Baltimore. Today, he calls Los Angeles home.
Conferences and Photo Reviews
New York Portfolio Review | The New York Times, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York and United Photo Industries | New York, NY | 2020
Solo Exhibitions
You Next | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport | Atlanta, GA | 2020
Barber Shop Chronicles | Brooklyn Academy of Music: BAM | New York, NY | 2019
Group Exhibitions
Reflecting In the Spirit of Kamoinge | EnFoco and Kamoinge | New York, NY | 2019
Publications
You Next: Reflections In the Black Barber Shop | The Chicago Review Press | Sept 2020
Nueva Luz | 2020
Black Futures | One World/Random House | December 2020
Artist Talks
“Kamoinge, Advocacies and Legacies” | En Foco | Dec 2020
“Pop-Up Zine Atlanta” | Pop-Up Magazine | Oct 2019
“Black Men Dream” | Weeksville Heritage Center | June 2018
Interviews, Articles, Reviews, Etc.
FOX 29 | Good Day Philadelphia |
Aperture | The Photobook Review | 2021
Google x Pop-Up Magazine | Year in Search | 2020
WHYY | You Next: Inside Philly’s most underrated urban institution with G. the Barber | 2020
The Philadelphia Inquirer | ‘You Next’ is a new book that captures the essence of Black barbershops | 2020
The New York Post | Why the Culture of Black Barbershops is so important | 2020
The Brooklyn Circus | You Next: Black Barber Shop Culture | 2020
Georgia Public Broadcasting | ‘You Next' Looks At The Transformative Power Of The Neighborhood Barber Shop | 2019
Bevel Code | The Bevel Barbershop Takeover | 2019
NewsOne | This Powerful Photo Project Captures The Timeless Essence Of Black Barbershops Across America | 2019
Blavity | This Powerful Photo Project Captures The Timeless Essence Of Black Barbershops Across America | 2019
Frederick Benjamin | You Next’s Antonio Johnson Highlighting the Importance of Barbershops Around the U.S. | 2018
Awards and Grants
Photography Fellow | En Foco | 2020
Photography Fellow | Idea Capital Atlanta | 2020
Emergency Grant | Foundation for Contemporary Arts | 2019