Currently on view at Johansson Projects, Oakland is “Temporal Void,” a two person exhibition featuring new works by Mayumi Hamanaka and Brooks Salzwedel, in which the vulnerability of our environments, histories and memories is brought to the forefront.  By slightly distorting recognizable images from twentieth century wars and layering hand cut prints and paper, Mayumi Hamanaka investigates perceptions of history and the contexts in which histories are written. In Hamanaka’s latest project, “Invisible Lands”, her process is applied to photographs found in the aftermath of the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Using these photographs Hamanaka re-imagines and recreates the memories and histories of people, places and moments that have been lost in an instance. Brooks Salzwedel’s work evokes the fragility of our environments, natural and unnatural, often by showcasing the junction of urban development and natural landscapes. These works simultaneously display the transition between unnatural encroachments on the natural and natural reclamation of environments. Salzwedel’s graphite, colored pencil, and mylar works are cast in resin. The resulting serene yet eerie landscapes are full of depth.

Mayumi Hamanaka, Grain of the Voice – Resonance of Crowds, paper. 2011. Courtesy of the gallery.

“Temporal Void” is on view through January 16th, 2014.

For more information visit  Johansson Projects, Oakland.