Gerry Johansson: Pontiac

Small town America

From the publisher (Mack Books):
Gerry Johansson's sensitive and subtle photographs hint at human life through the occasional car or lone figure but for the most part they draw the reader's eye to the simplistic architecture of a small American town. In singling out Pontiac, Johansson offers comment on more than the landscape, photographing a microcosm of the effects of the decline in the auto industry in Michigan. His images survey the landscape with a characteristic Swedish melancholy, echoing the new topographic photographers of the 1970s. Pontiac marks the end of an eighteen year project by Johansson. In 1993, 1994 and 1996 he visited America, taking photographs on his travels from one small town to the next.

This work was compiled published as Amerika in 1998. It was followed by a collection of photographs from his homeland, published under the title Sverige in 2005. Critical response led Johansson to narrow his camera's eye to make Kvidinge, a portrait of a Swedish town, published in 2007. Finally he revisited America in 2010, traveling to Pontiac, Michigan, and this became the basis for his final piece in this series.