SHANNON JOHNSON
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Gathering_Rosebuds



Gathering Rosebuds is a photomontage series utilizing archival photographs, collage, flower language, and handwriting to reinterpret the archive through the lens of sapphic gaze and "romantic friendship." I focused on images of sororal connection, the powerful gazes between women, the intimacy of touch, and the queer potential in these archival images. I utilize victorian flower language in the naming and image selection for the photomontages, carefully choosing flower combinations in wallpaper based on their meanings. Much of the text includes writing by lesbian artists and poets like Sappho. Through careful selection and photomontage techniques, I highlight these potential hidden meanings.



Pansies (darling, you’re so pretty, it hurts) II, 2025.
Ink, colored pencil, and collage on inkjet print on paper.  
20 x 16 in.
Pansy, Forget-me-not, Anemone, Columbine, Violet (breezes are flowing here like honey),  2025.
Archival inkjet print, drawing, ink, archival adhesive tape, and colored pencil on Rives BFK paper.
16 1/2 x 16 3/4 in.
Rose, Bamboo, Tulip (and I had the terrible audacity to yearn), 2025.
Archival inkjet prints, drawing, ink, archival adhesive tape, and colored pencil on Rives BFK paper.
16 1/2 x 16 3/4 in.  
With one look you take me back to everything I used to be, 2025.
Archival inkjet print and ink on Rives BFK paper.
40 x 29 in.

With looks divinely mild, In every heavenly feature smiled, 2025.
Archival inkjet print and ink on Rives BFK paper.  
40 x 29 in.