Coming soon! Opens October 7
Deana Lawson (American, born 1979), Coulson Family, 2008, pigment print, courtesy of the artist, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, and David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles. © Deana Lawson.
Featuring work made over the past two decades, this exhibition is the first museum survey dedicated to Deana Lawson. Working primarily in photography, Lawson investigates and challenges conventional representations of Black identities and bodies. Her work evokes a range of photographic histories and styles, including family albums, studio portraiture, and staged tableaux; she also employs documentary pictures and appropriated images. In Lawson’s highly staged scenes, individuals, couples, and families are pictured in intimate domestic spaces and public settings, interacting with one another. The artist describes her work as “a mirror of everyday life, but also a projection of what I want to happen. It’s about setting a different standard of values and saying that everyday Black lives, everyday experiences, are beautiful, and powerful, and intelligent.” Lawson’s project is global in scope, as she creates her images throughout the African diaspora in locations as varied as Brooklyn, Haiti, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Southern United States. This broad geographical range points to a collective memory of shared experiences and various cultural histories of the past.
Exhibition catalogue available for purchase at the Museum Shop and at museumshop.high.org. Members receive 10% off Shop purchases.
RELATED PROGRAMS
Member Preview: Deana Lawson
Thursday, October 6, 12 noon–5 p.m.
Members see it first and free! Register today for your timed tickets and be the first to explore Lawson’s intimate and disarming photographs challenging representations of Black identities.
