Wired by Sam Taylor-Johnson were taken in Joshua Tree National Park in California and explore the precariousness of life among success and the vulnerability of human conditions
British-born artist Sam Taylor-Johnson is currently presenting her exhibition of self-portrait photography titled Wired. These photographs were taken in the middle of the Joshua Tree National Park in California and explore the precariousness of life among success and the vulnerability of human conditions. A series that was over five years in the making, Wired is currently on display at Galleria Lorcan O’Niell in Rome, Italy.
Sam Taylor-Johnson: Transatlantic life
Sometimes, we all can find ourselves in a moment in time where our identity is split in two but living simultaneously in one person. When you feel not entirely on one side or the other, you sense a type of vulnerability that comes from a place of uncertainty. Wired represents artist Sam Taylor-Johnson and her transatlantic life between Los Angeles and the UK. Artist, Director, and Photographer Sam Taylor-Johnson was inspired by mediums relating to themes humans experience when placed in a moment of self-reflection.
«The series is about placing myself in a moment of time that reflects where I see myself positioned. It was time to do that in the US, feeling alien in a magical landscape», explains Taylor-Johnson.
Joshua Tree, California
The series began years ago as an experiment in London. Eventually, she set on Joshua Tree, California, with the rocky desert as her backdrop. Here, we begin with the dualities. The lighting in her London studio was darker, rather grey. While in Joshua Tree, the illumination is bright and full of golden tones. From starting the idea to realizing the artwork itself, after editing, the artist realized she wanted to add an element of realness.
«It took me months to digitally remove the cables and the cranes and the gears that kept me suspended, only to realize that each time I showed the pictures to anybody, I would explain everything that held me up, that held me in place», Taylor-Johnson stated. After all the editing time, «In an age where everything is retouched, it suddenly felt more truthful and honest to show all the things that supported me in the air, supported me in this moment between land and sky». In the end, the artist chose not to retouch the images.
Sam Taylor-Johnson: Autobiographical elements
Looking past the surface, the pieces within the series are full of autobiographical elements. You can find a single hare in the photographs, while in another, balloons or sneakers. These objects weren’t placed randomly. The location was also not random. Shooting the images in Joshua Tree is a nod to her career as a director.
The objects placed throughout the series, the animals, represent who she is as a person. All of the elements represent the voyage she undertook to arrive where she is today and where she will go in the future. The lone raven flying above one of the ladders describes her childhood in London. Balloons that are spotted in some of the pieces represent levitating. Never sure where, but levitating to other dimensions, mindsets, or even an idea of home.
While Taylor-Johnson was dangling, the only thing holding her up was wires. These thin cables represented the fragility of junctions in life; the freedom of only being held by these thin strands means reaching other dimensions. There’s liberating freedom within the idea of being held entirely in the hands of a wire; they don’t care what you do; they’re only there to hold you up.
Lorcan O’Neil, Rome: Layered Meanings
Exploring the emotions, «I feel that I make suspended self-portraits at junctions in my life where I am looking around and assessing where I am – not just geographically, but emotionally and spiritually», explains Taylor-Johnson. After three years of a global pandemic, war in Europe, inflation, political disasters, and so on, it’s safe to say that everyone has been at a junction at some point over the past few years. At some point, we all looked around and tried to figure out where and who we were. Sam Taylor-Johnson explored these topics and demonstrated them in a way that makes them relatable to those willing to understand and look more profound in the series.
Sam Taylor-Johnson: being suspended in the air gives a type of freedom
«Moments where I feel I’ve got my feet in this world, but at the same time I’m reaching out my arms to try and understand another dimension», says Taylor-Johnson. By allowing herself to be vulnerable, suspended by just a few wires holding her, she could genuinely dig and attempt to understand what is happening around her, where she wants to go next, and how she arrived at her current reality. At the same time, being suspended in the air gives a type of freedom, almost like flying, perhaps flying between thoughts, places, and ways of thinking. For Taylor-Johnson, «sometimes it’s about feeling free, sometimes it’s about feeling held, sometimes it’s about pain, and the internal struggle to display effortlessness and grace».
London, Los Angeles – Personal Duality
Naturally, Taylor-Johnson isn’t dangling herself mid-air for no reason. She grew up in London but now lives with her husband and children in Los Angeles. The duality of her current reality lies in her British and now American identities. The images represent her paradox: «the feeling of being caught between two worlds comes from not just straddling the globe between two continents, but equally the physical self and the ethereal mind». She continued, «the duality of thought, physical difference, all of these thoughts play into the work. To be caught between a place in time, physically and emotionally in a space that reflects my geographical mindscape».
Joshua Tree is a desert: where Self and Pop Culture Unite
Continuing on the theme of dualities, Joshua Tree is a desert and one of the hottest places on Earth, meanwhile where Sam grew up in gloomy, rather cold England. In addition to the dry, rocky background, Joshua Tree lies less than an hour from Los Angeles and occasionally serves as a film location. Star Trek and Western movies such as In Old Mexico and Borderland were shot on the hallowed desert grounds. It’s no secret that Sam Taylor-Johnson is one of Hollywood’s leading female directors.
On top of launching Wired, she’s currently in production for the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black. The location compliments her film background. There’s a cloth backdrop within certain pieces that are actually film backdrops from old 50s and 60s Hollywood films. Notice the DeLorean DMC-12 yet? That’s the car used from Back to the Future, yet another nod to her film career. The sea blue Buick found in one of the pieces represents the classic American wild west. Slowly, you can read through each piece’s layers and learn more about Taylor-Johnson, her beginnings, emotions, and passions.
Anti-immigration ideals and an «America first» agenda
Further, regarding the location of the series, Taylor-Johnson explains, «Joshua Tree is a place of spirits and otherworldliness. A place where trees can live up to 1,000 years and are all connected underground by a network of roots. Working in Los Angeles gave me the feeling of an outsider living in a magical world of otherness. Joshua Tree seemed to represent that pictorially».
Even if Los Angeles is a city filled with internationals hailing from all over the globe, it’s easy to feel left out, not good enough, or just plain odd. Especially in the last five years in American culture, with the rise of anti-immigration ideals and an «America first» agenda, foreigners in the US at times may feel unwelcomed. Joshua Tree is a place that has, and probably will outlive humans, a place that’s marked in pop culture and history and will continue to draw people in to feel a sense of wholesomeness.
Ritz Carlton in Paris: A Sign from Coco Chanel
Alongside Wired, visitors can also find her new exhibition titled Tarots. These photographs feature images inspired by playing cards and are packed with personal references. In 2014, Taylor-Johnson was shooting at Coco Chanel’s private apartment in the Ritz Carlton in Paris. It was the first time anyone had touched it since Chanel’s death in 1971. Laying on the table, Sam came across Chanel’s tarot decks and felt compelled to read them. The artist was so moved by the serendipitous moment that she felt the need to create as a response. Within the series, there’s again the hare, then another upside-down suspension with her husband, Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
Galleria Lorcan O’Neill
Vicolo de’ Catinari, 3, 00186 Rome. Wired by artist Sam Taylor-Johnson is currently on display at Galleria Lorcan O’Neill in Rome, Italy until March 23, 2023.
