Deering Estate Arts In Deep Exhibition Catalogue | Page 46

Avon Fishing Pier, Jennette’s Fishing Pier, Carolina Beach Fishing Pier
32” x 40”
Carbon pigment print from underwater pinhole camera
2012

Courtney Johnson
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Light Lure features underwater photographs taken with low-tech pinhole cameras constructed from cookie
tins, fishing line and waterproof tape. The weighted pinhole cameras were lowered into the Atlantic
Ocean off all 19 fishing piers along the North Carolina coast. Other the artist’s decision to make 30minute underwater exposures, the environment, varying weather conditions, and unpredictable light
refraction through water are responsible for the variety of images produced. The Underwater Pinhole
Photographs of North Carolina Piers was generously supported by a Charles L. Cahill Research Award.
Johnson specializes in photographic alternative processes and is one of the leading scholars on the
photographic cliché-verre technique. Johnson earned her BFA in Photography from New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, and her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Miami. Johnson's work has been
featured in 12 solo exhibitions as well as over 60 group exhibitions in the last five years and is included in
numerous collections including; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; University of Central Florida, Orlando,
FL; Tuanku Fauziah Museum and Gallery, USM, Penang, Malaysia; Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, FL;
Lowe Art Museum, Miami, FL; Presidential Penthouse, New York University, NY; Girls’ Club Collection,
Fort Lauderdale, FL; Barclays Capital, New York, NY; and FOTOMUSEO in Bogotá, Colombia.
www.courtneyjohnson.net
Born in Houston, Texas. • Lives in Wilmington , North Carolina.