(in progress)
Project Description:
Luke Johnson is a documentary photojournalist who has a passion for documenting grief and how it manifests within the larger scope of society. Johnson’s ongoing autobiographical project, A Life Without You examines his process through grief after the loss of his mother to cancer. The multimedia project is a collaboration with his mother’s archive of family photos and images he has made in response to his grief.
Intro Excerpt:
“My mom passed away in my arms, surrounded by family as afternoon turned to evening and people around the world were celebrating the end of one year, and the beginning of another.
I remember when I first learned of mom’s cancer diagnosis. I was in the middle of my spring semester at college when a phone call flipped my entire world upside down. Sobbing in the lobby of the dining hall, I pictured a world in which my mom wouldn’t be there. I was scared. Helpless, I spiraled into the darkest points of my life. And like moms do, she helped guide me out of it.
Being the fierce and powerful woman that she was, mom didn’t let the diagnosis bring her down. After a long and taxing process of chemotherapy and radiation, mom’s cancer had gone. During this process we grew closer than we already were. We talked on the phone every day asking questions, sharing stories, experiences, joys and celebrating small victories as we both fought our own battles together. These daily calls continued up until two weeks after I arrived home in San Diego from Seattle.
Excited for my first real break in over ten months, I was racing to get home and be with family. I was not happy to miss Thanksgiving but was excited for the opportunity to be home for Christmas. Along the way I was already planning my next big adventure. I was going to set off to cover the Iowa Caucuses on my own and then promptly start my first full-time staff position in journalism. Getting home, that excitement didn’t last long.”
Excerpt Two:
“Mom and I spent December 31, tidying her bedroom and cleaning up the house. She was excited but sad because one of her best friends Lorraine was flying in from New York the very next day to spend a week with us and say goodbye. She had known Lorraine since the early 1980s when they met at nontraditional jobs for women Long Island. Lorraine had been there for my mom and their relationship blossomed during one of the hardest periods of my mom’s life. The loss of her brother and father. Since then they had been involved in each other’s lives in every way imaginable from whacky photoshoots on the front porch to the journey of childbirth. Always making sure to have enough time for a game of Yahtzee, or three.
I was lucky to have such an open relationship with mom that I was able to ask her anything. Nothing was off limits.
While I was folding towels as she rested on her bed, I asked with tears welling in my eyes, “Mom, what is it like knowing that you have already, and are going to be seeing people for the last time?”
I didn’t know that day would be the last day I could hug my mom.
She explained that it wasn’t easy, but that her entire cancer journey hadn’t been easy. Mom told me that while her time with each person was coming to an end, her lifetime of experiences lived on in the relationships that her friends, family and loved ones shared. At the time I was puzzled by what she had meant, but now that she is gone I completely understand.”
Instillation
Gallery 1: Corcoran School of the Arts and Design
Film Trailer
Coming Soon