After over a year of work, we are wrapping up on the last edits of what promises to be a spectacular book with Figure 1 publishing. This hardcover book features a foreword by Edward Burtynsky and essays by curator Tom Smart and studio co-founder Lucie Bergeron-Johnson. And, of course, many beautiful full colour plates of several of Richard’s remarkable series: Ice Huts, Storm, Ice Villages, and Root Cellars. We look forward to sharing more information in the months to come before the book’s release and launch in October.
Richard Johnson: Resilience—Ice Huts and Root Cellars (2007–2021) is a photographic collection that celebrates the tranquility of winter and the ingenuity of vernacular architecture.
From a clear, straight-on vantage point and with a pictorial formality, Richard Johnson (1957–2021) spent more than a decade recording and categorizing visual typologies of small, hand-built structures across Canada. His most celebrated collection of photographs documents ice huts used for fishing. Later in his life, Johnson began documenting Newfoundland’s ubiquitous, earthen-built root cellars.
More than 200 photographs from these series are complemented by texts from acclaimed photographer and filmmaker Edward Burtynsky and curator Tom Smart, and a personal text by Johnson’s long-time partner, Lucie Bergeron-Johnson.
Coming October 2025.