Eirik Johnson

2019
archival pigment prints
24 x 30 inches, edition of 10, $3500
40 x 50 inches, edition of 3, $5000

In 2019, Eirik Johnson was commissioned to document the last days of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, an iconic structure along the waterfront edge of Seattle, as it was unwoven from the fabric of the city. The artist photographed the entire demolition process until the last of the long elevated highway was removed, ground down to rubble, and in turn used to fill in the condemned Battery Street Tunnel beneath downtown. During the weeks after the Viaduct had closed to traffic but before demolition began, Johnson made multiple walks along the entire lower level of the highway, photographing back at the city. This vista, a cinematic slice of Seattle framed top and bottom by the Brutalist structure of the Viaduct, had been an iconic perspective for anyone traveling along the highway as it made its way, at times within feet, passed the city. These photographs offer a visual reminder of that shared and unique perspective, now a part of the city’s collective history.

Click here to view a short video on this project produced by Crosscut