12. Sissela Johansson / Photographer
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© Sissela Johansson Photography
Sissela Johansson creates portraits for people who want to be seen—truly seen—beyond the polished versions we tend to show the world. Her work is about making space. She stays with people long enough for the mask to drop, for the breath to catch, and for something honest to surface. The result is quiet, intentional portraiture that feels real—because it is.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
That moment when you're sitting observing or participating in a situation, and your chest swells with the warmest, most perfect of feelings. It's just a moment, but it fills you up in such a way that it brings a profound sense of purpose.
For me, it usually happens when I am sitting observing people I love.
2. What is your greatest fear or challenge?
To be nothing. Do nothing. Be locked inside my body without the use of my senses and no way to express myself.
3. What trait do you most value in yourself?
Determination and the ability to push past fear and still do the hard things to gain something greater on the other end. To sit in discomfort and know that it's ok.
4. What is the trait that you most value in others?
Honesty and vulnerability.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
I'm honestly not sure. So many people are worthy of deep and great admiration in this world. I think it's more a type of person I admire - the ones living their life uncompromisingly and with great hunger to make an impact. I really admire Patrick Stewart...
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Besides my affinity for travelling, I absolutely love skincare, and I would spend more on it if I could. That and great food and drinks.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Contemplative, hopeful, inspired and optimistic. I have some pretty intense challenges ahead for this year that have the potential to break me, but I also feel hopeful that they won't. And determined not to let them.
8. What do you consider to be the most underrated virtue?
Sharing compliments more openly. Straight up vocal admiration to the people it's directed at.
9. On what occasion do you break the rules?
I break the rules where they do not fit. (aside for a level of legality, of course).
10. What do you most like about your life?
The chaos of how it has unfolded. I am quite the fortunate person, and I try to remember this every single day. I have created a life for myself that changes and adapts to my needs, wants and desires. If I feel stuck, I change it. This feels like freedom.
11. What quality do you most enjoy in someone you work with?
Openness, creativity, determination and vulnerability.
12. Which words, phrases, or gestures do you most overuse?
All of them, I suspect...
I say lovely all the time. Fantastic. Perfect. Gorgeous. Stunning.
Some of my most used phrases are:
"Two things can be true at the same time."
"That sounds like a them problem."
"To some people, you will be the villain in their story."
Among a ton of sentences that sound like something straight out of a self-help book.
I gesture always, ideally with my entire body.
13. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
To be corny...love is the greatest love of my life. The love for life and creativity. For knowledge, family, friends.
Love itself is the greatest continuous act and sometimes the hardest choice.
14. When and where are you happiest?
When I am completely submerged in the act of creating something. Losing all sense of time and place, just diving deep with my entire being.
15. Which talent would you most like to have?
I would love to be able to sing. And play the cello and the violin.
16. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would really like to be better at loving workouts and exercise.
17. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Building something new from scratch in an entirely different country, on an entirely different continent, only to turn my back to it and rinse and repeat somewhere else.
18. Where would you most like to live?
Scotland. I've wanted that since I was a kid.
19. What is your most treasured possession?
My teddy bear from the day I was born. And all the many photographs of the people who came before me.
20. What is your favourite way to spend your time?
Listening to music in my home or with good people, writing, and having a fire going.
21. Who are your heroes in real life?
I don't really have heroes. Heroes feel like putting someone on a pedestal, and that doesn't sit quite well with me. I have people I admire, look up to, and want to learn from. But that is not the same as being a hero.
22. What is your ultimate dealbreaker?
In what regard? Dealbreakers are relative to the situation. Mostly...
Though, thinking about it, any kind of fascism, racism and other schisms of the sort, really, are the dealbreakers in my life.
23. What is your greatest regret?
I do not regret. Minus maybe a few things I said as a child and teenager that I still ponder about today that make me cringe severely.
But honestly, regrets never serve anyone. You cannot change the thing. It has already happened, so the energy wasted clinging to the regret, should be spend not repeating the thing that led up to that in the first place.
24. What has been your favourite journey?
All of it. I have really enjoyed where life has taken me so far. It's been a wild ride already, but it has also been beyond incredible.
25. What kind of legacy would you like to leave?
I would like to be remembered fondly. I would like to have inspired people to live their best lives and be better humans. I hope to have helped some people feel better in one way or another, but I hold no illusions that I will leave a grand legacy. Within a few generations, no one will remember me, and I'm ok with that.
For more information about Sissela Johansson and her work, you can find her at: www.sisselajohansson.com and also view her work on social at: Instagram and LinkedIn
