“What I really hoped to do with my work,” Rashid Johnson has said, “was to at least be able to define my relationship to race.” His method? Dissecting cultural notions of blackness. Influenced by his reading of historical and philosophical texts, Johnson stormed the art scene with startling photography. He then expanded into mixed media (text, collage, drawing, installation, and performance), a leap that won him last year’s Aspen Award for Art. With The Hikers, Johnson now delves into yet another art form: choreography. —E.C.