Johan Orellana

Self-Portrait and Past-Self (Family Ties #3), New York 2021

 Self-Portrait and Past-Self (Family Ties #3), New York 2021 © Johan Orellana  (@johanorellanaa)

Artist Bio

Johan Orellana (b. 1998, Ecuador) is a visual artist and writer living and working in Brooklyn,  NY. His bodies of work deal with notions of personal migratory displacement, cultural assimilation, and the archive. He holds two B.A. degrees, Photography and Spanish Studies,  from Bard College where his studies focused on Spanish and Latin American photographic theory and literature.  

Q&A

What does creating a self-portrait require?

I see the self-portrait as a rich and extensive artistic practice. Some artists feel hesitant about portraying themselves, others devote their entire careers to their self-portrayal, and many others make it a chapter in their craft. Personally, I tend to arrive at the making of a self-portrait in two ways, 1) as a moment of creative reflection where I turn the camera onto myself to disconnect from the world and its ideas; and 2) as an act of necessity.

 Nicole, Nena, and Bejamin (Family Ties #1), New York 2021 © Johan Orellana  (@johanorellanaa)

Tell me more about the photos you’ve been making?

Once I came home after finishing my undergraduate program, the only art-related matter that I could think about was photographing my family. These two photographs are the outcome of that. At the moment, they feel like they go beyond the personal relationship that I have with the subjects, whether in the mainframes or in the family archive images because they hold the power to withstand the dislocations created by time and geography.  

Roxana and Priscila (Family Ties #2), New York 2021 © Johan Orellana  (@johanorellanaa)

How do you navigate photographing your family? 

I have an interesting relationship with the act of photographing my family. I am just starting to make collaborative work with them, especially with those that are closer to my age like my cousins. I have not had the courage yet to engage in conversation with older relatives. I certainly envy, in a positive way, photographers that have made and are constantly making photographs of their families like LaToya Ruby Frazier, Andrés Ríos, Jennifer Teresa Villanueva, Juan C. Giraldo, Steven M. Contreras, Luis Manuel Díaz, among others. 

Who are your influences? 

Widline Cadet, Graciela Iturbide, Deana Lawson, and Elle Perez. I always try to gather inspiration from artists that have and are constantly challenging the photographic canon.