Gerry Johansson (born 5 May 1945) is a Swedish photographer who lives in Höganäs in southern Sweden. He is known for making “straight and pragmatic” photographs with an objective view of geographic locations. His books include America, Sweden, Germany, Antarctic, Tokyo, and American Winter. His work is held in the collection of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, where he has also had solo exhibitions. He has received the Region Skåne Cultural Prize and the Lars Tunbjörk Prize.

Life and work

Johansson was born in Örebro, Sweden, and grew up in Varberg in Halland County. He began photographing at the age of 11 and started printing his own pictures at 15. After high school, he lived with relatives in New Jersey for a year. From 1965 to 1969, he studied graphic design at Konstindustriskolan in Gothenburg (now the School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg). He later worked for a photography magazine and spent fifteen years working as a graphic designer.

In 1972, Johansson co-founded the publishing house Fyra Förläggare, which specialised in photography magazines and photobooks, primarily featuring Swedish documentary photographers. In 1985, he left the company to work as an independent photographer.

Johansson’s photographs are described as “straight and pragmatic,” presenting an objective view of geographic locations. Nearly all of his 31 photobooks are defined by their geography, and their uniformly sized photographs are usually organised alphabetically or chronologically, encouraging readers to interpret each image individually. He predominantly works with black-and-white film, which he develops and prints himself, and his preferred camera is a Rolleiflex.

His book American Winter (2018) was produced during two three-week trips in 2017 and 2018 through the Midwestern United States, including Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado.

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Gerry Johansson. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved January 19, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Johansson