Sharon Berg Interviews Tom Smart

(Figure 1 Publishing, 2025)

Richard Johnson

Tom Smart

Sharon Berg: I’m glad to have the chance to peruse this beautiful book, featuring the photography of the late Richard Johnson. It’s called Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021, and it seems to be a hybrid beast, meaning it’s a lovely mix of memoir and biography. Clearly, Richard Johnson was deeply appreciated as an artist. You describe him as a sort of anthropologist, yet I also perceive a level of anthropology in the very creation of a book designed to gift Richard’s images to the world. They are surrounded by the embrace of loved ones and colleagues who understand his intent. How did you, this book’s author, manage to compile a study of his work so quickly after his passing? Was it a book he was working on beforehand? It strikes me your answer may be critical to our understanding of the personality of the man behind the photographic lens.
 
Tom Smart:  I was approached to write the book by the artist’s family in 2024. Although I knew Richard’s work by seeing it in several venues around Toronto, I knew very little about the artist, his motivations or the scope of his work. This project gave me the opportunity to delve into his artistic career to understand his creative process, technique and intentions. Richard’s own words, that he posted several years ago on his website, opened many fruitful avenues of research, particularly the importance of the Düsseldorf School of Photography for him and his work. The incredible serial photographs, known as “typologies”, by Hilla and Bernd Becher led to the establishment of this important school of photography, which is also known as the “Becher School.”
 
SB:  I’m someone raised in Ontario, in small towns and villages close to farmland. My father only fished in the summer, so I never encountered ice huts. I also never saw a root cellar before I moved to Newfoundland in 2020. However, these structures--both the temporary and the permanent--speak about the ingenuity and perseverance of people who connect their activities to the land. What do you know about Richard Johnson’s belief that others who haven’t witnessed these structures in person--perhaps people rooted in urban centers and technology—would appreciate these simple buildings?
 
TS:  I believe that many readers will relate to the fact that these structures represent a determined spirit of resilience and endurance that is essentially a part of who we are as Canadians, living, for the most part, in harsh environments. These structures, while serving a utilitarian or recreational purpose, symbolize an essential national trait that endures and thrives despite the challenges of the climate.
 
SB:  I know from family history that impoverished immigrants who worked on farms in Sweden constructed backstuga or sod cottages as their homes into the 1900s. Upon arriving as settlers in North America, everyone, even the rich who brought those farm workers with them, built sod houses for their first protection from the elements. The impermanent ice huts and durable root cellars Richard Johnson presents in Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021 both reach back to that same human struggle to exist in the extremes of weather. Yet, we also have his photographic series, or Jeté and Allegro, which speak to his broader artistry. They introduce us to the visual dance and weave of shapes and the spiritual impact of visually knitting the architecture found in contemporary urban centers together. Did Richard Johnson ever express his central artistic vision, the one that ties his vision of humanity as a whole to his urban or rural experience of human-made structures?
 
TS:  The ice huts and root cellars represent much more than what they appear to be. And I believe that is what makes his images so appealing. They are essential Canadian icons, symbols of community and the ties that bind.
 
The Jeté and Allegro series show Richard as a master in interpreting the play of light on and reflecting off of built structures. Although they point to the abstract, there is a quality of magical uncanniness in them. He was a realist yet also a gifted visual poet.
 
I’m not aware that Richard ever verbally expressed an overarching aesthetic or vision. His theory is evident in his practice.
 
SB:  It can’t be denied that we live in a time of tremendous political and social unrest. As every book takes a stance in the midst of its contemporary surroundings, how would you describe the position that Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021 takes? What is its area of concern in today’s world?
 
TS:  Richard’s work speaks to a deeply embedded characteristic that is shared across the country in which we as a nation have found ways to live in the land rather than on it. The photographs express Richard’s abiding love for the land and people who have found ways to co-exist by embracing each other and nature. In this time when our sovereignty is being challenged, Richard’s work gives us resonant images symbolizing essential Canadian values interpreted as beautiful photographs that are both crystal clear and highly allusive at the same time. They express not only symbols of resilience but, in these times, they are icons of resistance.
 
When I was working on the book, it was just before our national sovereignty came under threat.  Richard’s art has taken on a whole new meaning as it expresses uniquely Canadian values: resilience, endurance, community. A coda for the book might have addressed this resonant and contemporary meaning.
 
SB:  Did Richard Johnson live in an urban or rural setting? Did he prefer open spaces? Was he unsettled by crowds of people? Please explain how his personal environment affected his approach to photography.
 
TS:  I am sorry that I never met Richard, but from his work it seems to me he was deeply affected by the “built” environment in all its manifestations, from temporary ice huts, to root cellars, to high rise glass office buildings. Buildings in all their many forms attracted Richard. He was also influenced by like-minded artists who found powerfully resonant imagery in urban and industrial architectural forms, particularly photographers of the Düsseldorf School of Photography who followed in the footsteps of Bernd and Hilla Becher. Their innovative approach to interpreting urban and industrial landscapes contributed to the birth and growth of this school.
 
SB:  I wonder, did this book seem to fall onto the page, as if it were channelled, or did you struggle to find its structure? Was there a developmental process? Is there a part of the early drafts that was removed from this book? Do you see it as the starting point for a future book? Please elaborate.
 
TS:  The book found me. It started with Richard’s own voice. In a YouTube video posted online, Richard mentions the Bechers as seminal influences. This led me to delve into his sources and influences rooted in their art, showing Richard’s relationship to the Bechers’ students—Thomas Struth, Thomas Ruff, Andreas Gursky and others, including the Canadian Ed Burtynsky.
 
So, the book began with Richard’s voice speaking to me about his sources, methods and interests. It all flowed from there as if Richard were continuing to speak to me through his art. Nothing dramatically changed in the writing process. It was much like taking dictation as I heard Richard and saw him in his art. Beyond a few additions and edits to clarify parts and correct some facts, the initial draft largely remained intact through the editing process.
 
Could this be a starting point for other books? Yes, especially one that probes contemporary Canadian photography, and one that explores Canadian identity through the icons that contemporary artists are describing in their work. Perhaps a book on visual poetry would include Richard’s work.
 
But the profound love for Canada that Richard had and expressed through his work should not be lost in translation.
 
SB:  Is there another book or exhibition of works that inspired you to structure Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021 the way you did? What was the first inspiration for the book, even if it’s not your own or something counterintuitive?
 
TS:  The first inspiration for me was the photographs themselves.  I had seen them exhibited in various venues (not art galleries) around Toronto. I was struck by Richard’s keen intelligence and discerning eye, not to mention his amazing skills as a technician. His subject was what he composed before his lens, but it was also the light that enveloped his subjects and the resonance of the images themselves that transcend what is putatively their subject. The magic is in the transformation of a recognizable subject—ice huts, root cellars, windows— into metaphors of human and Canadian experience that many hold dear.
 
SB:  Would you place Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021 within a particular genre? Many would say it is a ‘coffee table book’, but that seems too limiting. Do you see it as a biography? A memoir? A simple portfolio of work? Does it touch on concepts from a particular place in history? Or is it so intent on ‘revealing truth’ about Richard Johnson’s goals and developing an understanding of his vision that you weren’t overly conscious of where it fell in terms of genre?
 
TS:  The book is a critical lens on the astonishing realism of Richard’s art. It is a memoir in that it traces his reflections on what was important to him in his life—art, photography, visual poetry. I hope that it is not read as a portfolio of his output. Richard had an eye for the uncanny that makes what is real take on many different overtones that are magical, metaphoric, nationalistic. Its truth reveals itself in the simple act of looking at what he interpreted and by plumbing the many depths he was prepared to take the curious reader. In this he offers a generous guide into his and our imaginations.
 
SB:  Many authors say an artist never feels they’re finished their work, that they’ll always wish they could adjust and tweak their work. It’s difficult to speak for others, but do you feel Richard Johnson would have done anything differently if he had created Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021? What would he have changed?
 
TS:  I expect that Richard held himself to a very high standard regarding his work and methods, so much so that what you see is a fully formed statement that satisfactorily expresses his artistic intentions. What he gives us is true, complete. The rest was left on the cutting room floor.
 
Canadians, as a people, are currently faced with an existential threat to our national identity from without and within. Our cultural expressions are being denigrated and devalued. But Richard reclaims this territory surrendered to monocultures. He gives us powerful images that express deep, essential truths about who we are as Canadians persevering in this harsh environment. Richard tells us that we are a fathomless accumulation of histories and stories that express strength, resilience and survival, often against all odds. There is also a quirky self-critical, off-beat humour that he points to in his imagery that reads as a true emblem of who we are as a nation.
 
SB:  How does this book fit into the stream of Richard Johnson’s work? Is there a fundamental difference between Resilience: Ice Huts, Root Cellars 2007-2021 and prior exhibitions or publications of his work?
 
TS:  This work is part of a continuum of exhibitions, articles, catalogues and reviews of Richard’s art.  It is summative in that it lays out the broad themes, influences, directions that he took as a photographic artist.  It also contemplates other authors and curators picking up on some of the ideas I presented in the hopes that, over time, his work will evolve in its meaning and in the impact it has on those who view it and read about it.
 
SB:  Thank you, once again, Tom. I’ve really appreciated delving further into this gorgeous book with you. I’m sure that the reviews will tell you that you’ve achieved what you wanted to accomplish in this volume. I hope our interview will inspire many others to discover the book itself.

​Author, art gallery director, curator, and consultant, Tom Smart has written award-winning, critical biographies, catalogues, and books, as well as curated exhibitions on Canadian and international artists, including painters Mary Pratt, Christopher Pratt, James Simon Mishibinijima, Alex Colville, Tom Forrestall, Peter Clapham Sheppard, graphic novelist Seth, George Walker, and many others. His book on Painters Eleven (Eleven Painters Start a War) will be published by Biblioasis in 2026. Tom has worked as a director of art galleries and museums across Canada and the United States, among them the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, the Frick in Pittsburgh, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He has lectured at universities in Canada and the United States and was a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.

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​Sharon Berg attended the Banff School of Fine Arts Writing Studio in 1982 and was accepted to Banff’s Leighton Artist Colony in 1987. She taught in Ontario after studying to become a teacher with a focus on First Nations Education: B.A./Laurentian U.; B.Ed/U of T; M.Ed/York U; and D.Ed/UBC. She received a Certificate in Magazine Journalism from Ryerson U and is an alumni of Humber College’s Writing Program. Sharon founded and operated the international literary E-Zine Big Pond Rumours (2006-2019) and its associated press, releasing chapbooks of Canadian poets as prizes for the magazine’s contests. Her poetry appears as full books with Borealis, Coach House, and Cyberwit, and she has four chapbooks with BPR Press. Sharon’s short fiction is with Porcupine’s Quill, and her nonfiction appears with BPR Press. Her writing appears across Canada, the USA, Mexico, Chile, England, Wales, Netherlands, Germany, Siberia, Romania, India, Persia, Singapore, and Australia. Her 3rd poetry collection Stars in the Junkyard was a Finalist in the 2022 International Book Awards, and her narrative history The Name Unspoken: Wandering Spirit Survival School won a 2020 IPPY Award for Regional Nonfiction. When she retired from teaching, she opened Oceanview Writers Retreat in Charlottetown (Terra Nova National Park) Newfoundland.