Johan Willner is based in Stockholm and graduated with a master’s degree in art from Konstfack, Stockholm. Willner has also studied at the International Center of Photography (ICP), New York.
Willner’s photographs depict the Swedish “folkhemmet” (a political concept that played an important role in the history of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish welfare state). Environments that many Swedes identify with, such as sterile dressing rooms, soccer fields, schools, and hospitals. But there are also images of Old Sweden, traces of cultural inheritance passed down through generations.
Johan Willner works with staged photography, inspired by the documentary tradition. Willner recreates memories in minute detail, so much so that we may perceive his photographs be actual documents of reality.