brunel johnson

Growing up in North West London Brunel stumbled on photography by accident when a photographer cancelled on his friend last minute; "so I said how hard could it be to take a photo..." The moment proved pivotal and quite a change of direction after having studied Maths at university.

Since then he has cast his meticulous eye on the scenes of his home city, from motorcycle crews to intimate family moments and everything in between. Driven in part by his experiences growing up, his work is challenging narratives around inner city youth and the experiences of young and Black in Britain today. We spoke to him about his work and how he is passing his craft on to the next generation.

Interview and text by Esta Maffrett | 21.08.21

How did you get into photography?

I got into photography by accident, stumbled across it. I wasn't really into anything creative, I was more down the academic path so I studied maths at university. One day at a charity event the photographer canceled at the last minute and my friend who was the organizer was stressing out because he couldn't find a photographer. So I said how hard could it be to take a photo, being ignorant, and then he gave me the camera set up and I started to shoot. That was really the first time I had a DSLR camera and realised that there's a lot of maths involved in photography. From there one thing led to another, and I just fell in love with the practical application of maths in photography. It's kept me there since.

How has your youth and experience growing up influenced your practice today?

My experience growing up was, you could call it a typical inner London experience. I grew up in a council estate, had friends that were doing the usual stuff to survive and never thought we could go beyond the council estate. So our ideology was kind of boxed in. But then through university, we opened up and started to see that there's more to the world than just living in a council block. Because you're kind of growing up in an environment which is both fun but volatile and dangerous at the same time, you kind of learn how to dance between situations. Going from a fun situation that could be a festival in the park, to having to get home without being caught in a situation where another area wants to start jumping up. All of these experiences, from living in a council estate and actually experiencing University outside of London, you’re seeing what goes on and how things are by bringing two different worlds together. And then photography is like the glue that allows you to show these two worlds and how they formulate and how you can bring the beauty of one side with the bonus and authenticity of another side and create an image. So I'll say that's how it influenced me growing up.

You’ve taken on a lot of personal projects that always have a story and a narrative through them. How do you find inspiration for these projects?

My personal projects come from my experiences in life. Living in the UK there's a lot of misinformation and a lack of understanding from both sides, both within the community and outside of the community. And you kind of get tired of having as I call it and lots of people call it the white gaze, which tends to define everything according to one group of people. My inspiration comes from wanting to change the narrative, not in an aggressive sense, but more from an informative and educational point of view. So I want both sides, within my community to see what's going on, but also from outside to learn what goes on. Because then when we talk about racism within the community it tends to just be on the individual, a racist person dealing with another person of colour. But there's a lot more once you leave your little bubble and you find out you have structural and institutional racism which is far more than the racist person we might see on the street. A lot of people from my community do not have the opportunity to actually see or experience this institutional or structural racism because they don't leave the bubble. A lot of the time I tend to be in places where not many black men tend to be. I've been like that all my life, studying math, honestly I was the only black person on the math course. University, there were only three of us that were black, or three of us that were black or any ethnic minority. Going into an internship I've been the only black person, going into teaching as the only black person. All these life experiences have always only been me there so it's to show that this is how it is. The inspiration comes in creating something that gets the point across while missing or dodging all the landmines of being labelled and cut off.

''A person who is a photographer is always reflecting, always contemplating, always conscious and observant of the things around them which then leads them to question what they're looking at and then question themselves.''

How do you use photography as a tool to change or present new narratives?

Photography gives me a voice without speaking. If you were an activist or if you were someone who was protesting all the time, a lot of people will see who you are first before they hear your words or see what you have to say. Photography does the opposite. Before you know I'm a black male, behind the camera, my photos hopefully would have touched you in a way that it becomes irrelevant and you want to hear what I have to say. Photography for me is the only medium. Music does the same thing but again, you start to see the person and you judge him first before you actually hear what he has to say. Photography doesn't do that. That's why photography became the medium for what I want to do and what I want to achieve. I like to be behind the camera, like to be by myself or to myself, but yet have my message get across without having to be a face in the public. I just want people to hear the message, learn from it without having to see who I am as a person.

You work with Future Hackney and other NGO’s teaching skills to younger generations. Why is mentorship important for you and what are the lessons you want to pass on?

When I started photography, to find a black photographer, or ethnic minority photographer, was very difficult. Majority are either legendary, have passed, or who don't exist at all. For me, I have this ideology that photography opens up the mind more than music does. A lot of kids use music as a means to escape, and the music gets them out of the situation but it doesn't necessarily change their outlook or cause them to look internally to see where and how they can improve. Because music is just going with the flow like a river that just goes until it stops and then where it stops is where you stop. Whereas photography creates a sense of reflection. A person who is a photographer is always reflecting, always contemplating, always conscious and observant of the things around them. Which then leads them to question what they're looking at and then question themselves. I believe a lot of the youth of today need something that allows them to question themselves because by questioning yourself you then grow as a person and whatever you want to do whatever you want to be. It's important because I want to show that there's different elements, different ways to become someone other than music or sports. I want to show that there's more. Photography draws out a lot of skills that a lot of the disadvantaged kids use on a daily basis just to survive. Because of the creativity that they've had to use just to survive, now using it in art form they might be another David Bailey, another Andy Warhol, or another Basquiat. I want to be able to do my part of being someone who has gotten this far and instead of continuing to go far alone has turned around and I say ‘listen, I'm walking backwards, now but I want to bring you along with me, so here's what you need, here's how it goes. Let's go’. I don't want to be the only black photographer who's making a wave in the industry. I want wherever I stop there's someone from a different generation either younger, older, whatever that's going to continue from where I've stopped.

If you could put any item into The Museum of Youth Culture what would it be?

Fresh white socks. Yeah, that symbolizes my youth. Fresh white socks. Because before when you had a good pair of trainers the fresh white socks would match it. Black socks was for school. White socks, white nike socks were the thing you'd wear to really boost out the crepe.