LOUISE MOUTON JOHNSON
Hope Moves Us Forward. 2023, Quilted paper, netting, buttons, thread.
Creatively interprets the experience of Semaj:
“I would say they would just have to look past the charges that's placed on them and why they're in their situation and really just get a chance to understand them and where they're at mentally, because a lot of those dudes back there...They wasn't there mentally. It takes time to build that mental strength, and it's important too.”
In my piece entitled Hope Moves Us Forward, I was inspired by Semaj’s response to some of the questions he was asked in an interview that was shared with me. Despite being in a youth detention center, with feelings of loneliness and regret, Semaj said that he was motivated and inspired by several of the adults who worked with him and the other youth during this time. Through their mentoring and counseling, he maintained a sense of hope. He felt that if he maintained a positive attitude and remained mentally strong, he could reclaim his life.
My artwork is stitched paper that is constructed in the same manner as a patchwork quilt. It is composed in different shades of blue, which Semaj indicated was his favorite color. A “cool” color on the designer’s color wheel, blue is also said to stimulate calmness. In the artwork, I chose to use Adinkra symbols that expressed many of the thoughts and ideas that Semaj spoke about. These abstract symbols were created by the Akan people of Ghana, a country in West Africa, and can be used to depict aspects of a person’s character as well as a complex belief system on ritual and daily life. The symbols I chose represent hope and inspiration, having heart, wisdom and ingenuity, reconciliation, and peacemaking, and learning from the past to build toward the future.
Louise Mouton Johnson (b. 1954, New Orleans, LA; based in New Orleans, LA) is a fiber artist and printmaker whose art lies at the intersection of painting, quilting, and assemblage. Her works often combine pattern and symbols with imagery of the human figure and landscape. A frequent collaborator, Mouton Johnson has created art that is widely circulated regionally and part of the City of New Orleans permanent collection. Her art was recognized by a Joan Mitchell Center Artist Residency in 2018 and by the National Conference of Artists New Orleans in 2003. She was the first woman artist invited to design the official New Orleans Jazz and Heritage poster in 1990 and her art appears on multiple album covers for Rounder Records recording artists. She holds an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and earned a BA at Xavier University of Louisiana after briefly studying at Tulane University.