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A
n activist-artist, Tonika Lewis Johnson aims to
give visual representation to her community
and challenge negative stereotypes through her
photography. Johnson’s exhibit,
Everyday Englewood
,
features photographs curated from her two Englewood-
based collections,
From the INside
and
Everyday Rituals
.
Johnson carefully captures images that illustrated the
reality of her Chicago neighborhood with normalcy,
beauty, and dignity. This exhibition highlights the diverse
lives of regular people to display the joy that is present in
Johnson’s Englewood community.
Johnson began taking pictures during her freshman year
of high school as part of a writing program. Combining
her passion for photography and writing, Johnson then
earned her bachelor’s degree in print journalism with a
photojournalism minor from Columbia College Chicago.
After starting a family, Johnson picked up her camera
again in 2007 and started capturing her neighborhood.
During this time, she co-founded the Resident Association
of Greater Englewood (RAGE) to create a real and positive
impact in the lives of others. Her involvement with the
organization prompted a greater level of engagement with
her community. Between documenting community and
RAGE events, Johnson found that these photographs
allowed her community members to see images of
themselves in an artistic light, a portrayal that they had
never seen before. These realizations pushed Johnson
to want to do more, and throughout 2014 and 2015, she
continued to document how she sees her community in the
hope of connecting with the larger community of African
American residents in Chicago.
The 2016 presidential election marks a turning point in
Johnson’s artistic career. She describes the political rhetoric
of the Trump campaign, often negatively directed
at Chicago communities like Englewood, as the issue
that made her decide to start using her photography
“to illustrate and elevate social issues.” Feeling that her
community was being bullied and cast in a damaging light,
Johnson decided to show photos of her community to
a wider audience. She saw her photos as evidence that
countered negative election rhetoric. In 2017, Johnson
successfully applied for the Department of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events’ Individual Artist Program Grant. With
the funds she received, she created a collection of her
photographs, titled
From the INside
. She exhibited them
at the First Annual Englewood Art Fair in October 2016,
where she was honored as the featured artist. Johnson
also produced a couple hundred smaller prints to give to
Englewood residents. This experience was the catalyst that
launched Johnson fully into the role of an exhibiting artist.
Johnson saw that exhibitions allowed people to connect
with her work, as well as engage with social issues. She also
describes the Englewood Art Fair exhibition as driving
home the sad truth that her “community was not used to
seeing reflections of themselves as art or beauty,” a truth
she is now determined to change.
Everyday Englewood
asks the viewer to question norms
of representation and to think about the damaging
impact perceptions can have on Chicago communities.
Johnson hopes that by illustrating the similarities
between her community and others, these images can
counteract negative portrayals. Additionally, Johnson
sees the museum space as a platform on which to
elevate representations of her community and validate
Englewood’s depiction as a “place of culture, not just a
crime hub” and a location of African American artistic
representation. Loyola University of Chicago’s social
justice mission compliments the message of her work thus
Johnson feels LUMA is the perfect museum to present her
vision of Englewood to a wider audience.
Images (left to right): Tonika Johnson,
Her Name is Yoshi
, 2015; Tonika Johnson,
Crown Royal
, 2016; Tonika Johnson,
Neon Colored Juice
, 2015.