Cynthia Johnston
Somewhere in the Middle
After graduation from university, I left the Midwest to pursue employment on the East Coast. With time, I adapted to the Northeast but maintained connections to the culture and people “back home”. Until the election of 2016, I thought I knew the Midwest, and thus, myself.
But “post-Trump”, I felt so out of touch with the place enshrined in my heart. Upon retrospection, I realized that it had been decades since I traveled extensively in the US. There were many states to which I had never ventured; several in which I was fearful to travel. I started to see the outlines of my personal bubble and identity dissonance.
During the last two years, I have wound my way through 20,000 miles of small towns dotting state highways and rural routes in the traditionally defined Midwestern states. The scenes presented in this work are viewed through the eyes of a prodigal daughter who is gradually re-discovering her former home; a place that is, by turns, filled with quiet beauty, sorrow and history.
Artist Bio
Cynthia Johnston is a fine arts photographer with an interest in work which examines personal identity and cultural identification. Her two current projects are “Somewhere in the Middle” and “Altars”.
After working in biotechnology for twenty years, she left her job to live in Montréal where she found a creative home. Since moving back to New England, she has taken numerous courses at the New England School of Photography as well as the Griffin Museum of Photography.
Johnston’s work been exhibited internationally and is included in corporate and private collections in the US, Canada, Germany and Spain. She has recently exhibited work at the Center for Photographic Art, the Alexandria Museum of Art and the Griffin Museum of Photography.
http://cynthiajohnstonphotography.com
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