Gerry Johansson

Gerry Johansson, Swedish, b. 1945

Born in Örebro, Sweden in 1945, Gerry Johansson discovered his passion for photography at a young age, starting to shoot at age 11 and print his own work by 15. In the early 1960s, he lived with relatives in New Jersey and became involved with the Village Camera Club in New York. He later returned to Sweden to formalize his education, studying graphic design at the School of Design and Crafts (Konstindustriskolan) in Gothenburg, graduating in 1969.  

Johansson spent around fifteen years working as a graphic designer. In 1972, he co-founded the publishing house Fyra Förläggare AB, which specialized in photography magazines and books highlighting Swedish documentary and nature photography. He left the publishing house in 1985 to pursue independent photography full time.  

Johansson is renowned for his quiet, objective, and pragmatic visual language. Working primarily in black-and-white, he focuses on geographic locations, human absence, and the quiet intersections of built environments and natural landscapes. His image compositions are meticulous and darkroom-crafted, often capturing abandoned structures, street geometry, and quiet rural or urban detritus without sensationalism.  

Photobooks form the core of his artistic body of work, with over thirty titles published, often named after the location or region studied, such as Amerika (1998), Sverige (2005), Pontiac (2011), Deutschland (2012), Antarktis (2014), and Tokyo (2016) His work is held in major public collections, including the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Throughout his long career, he has received numerous honors, including the Swedish Arts Grants Committee's award (2012), the Lars Tunbjörk Prize (2019), and the Prince Eugen Medal (2024).  

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