Episode 12: LOLA FLASH Pictures The Pulse of Queer Space & Time
Photographer Lola Flash grew up in the Newark suburb of Montclair, a wealthy and diverse commuter town 12 miles west of New York City. We ran into each other in Woodstock, NY in 2021 during my visit there to see an exhibition at the town’s Center of Photography. My friend and colleague, Charles Guice, who curated the exhibition, Woodstock Vision: The Spirit of a Generation Photographs by Elliott Landy, was giving my wife and I a tour of the exhibition when we bumped into Lola, who was currently an artist-in-residence at the Center. I’m an admirer of Lola’s photography practice and we frequently saw each other at events and exhibitions in NYC. Fortunately, during our conversation, I discovered that Lola grew up in Montclair and that led to reminisces of our youth in that area of Essex County, and subsequently, to this interview.
Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics for more than four decades, photographer Lola’s work challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual, and racial preconceptions. An active member of ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Lola was notably featured in the 1989 “Kissing Doesn’t Kill” poster. Their art and activism are profoundly connected, fueling a life-long commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of LGBTQIA+ and communities of color worldwide. Flash has work included in important collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, MoMA, the Whitney, The National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Brooklyn Museum. They are currently a proud member of the Kamoinge Collective, and on the Board of Queer Art.
Lola received their bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Masters’ from London College of Printing, in the UK. Lola works primarily in portraiture, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. Flash’s practice is firmly rooted in social justice advocacy around sexual, racial, and cultural difference.
The images that accompany this podcast can be seen by visiting the website: whatsnewarkgottodowithit.com
This interview took place on May 16, 2022.
Established in 1988, The Autograph Gallery’s mission is to champion the work of artists who use photography and film to highlight questions of race, representation, human rights and social justice. In April of 2019 the gallery, located in London, England, mounted an exhibition of Lola’s series ,titled [sur]passing. Emphasizing varying shades of skin tone, these larger-than-life portraits feature a spectrum of global diasporic figures posed against urban skylines - probing the impact of pigmentation on black identity and consciousness.
"Flash’s photography pays tribute to those who courageously navigate contested zones of existence, transforming dissident sexualities and complex cultural identities into productive sites of exploration, reclamation and occupation" - Renée Mussai, Curator, [sur]passing Exhibition
Three images from that exhibition:
The Autograph Gallery’s main exhibition space for Lola’s [sur]passing exhibition.
Lola Flash, DJ Kinky, London, 2002
Lola Flash, Thato, Cape Town, South Africa, 2002
In 2021 The Museum of Modern Art acquired and exhibited seven works from Flash’s Cross Color Series, originally created in the late 80’s. These are two pieces from that series:
Lola Flash, U is for Upside Down, New York City, New York, 1993
Lola Flash, AIDS is Killing Artists, Self-Portrait, Provincetown, Massachusetts c. 1990
To see the entire Lola Flash Cross Color photographs acquired by MoMA: https://www.moma.org/artists/133450
Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio created 10 (ten) editions of this piece, Silence Will Not Protect You, for Queer|Art.
Lola Flash, Queer|Art Mentor and Trustee, created this second annual Queer|Art Artist Neon Edition, Silence Will Not Protect You, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio.
December 2021. Inspired by their history with ACT UP and AIDS awareness activism with Gran Fury, Flash highlights the text, “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” originated by writer, educator, and feminist Audre Lorde at the Modern Language Association’s “Lesbian and Literature Panel,” in 1977. The powerful quote later served as the title of her posthumous collection of essays, speeches, and poems in 2017. This neon edition radiates connection between Lorde’s work and ACT UP’s seminal statement, “Silence=Death” and creates a clear throughline of queer liberation and activism from then to now—and onward into the future. Flash, in collaboration with LiteBrite Neon Studio, has created only 10 (ten) editions of this work, all of which are available for purchase from Queer|Art’s online shop.
Looking Forward: Lola Flash and Sadie Barnette in Conversation. Getty Center, Sunday Oct 09 2022
The Kamoinge Workshop is a collective of Black photographers formed in New York in 1963. Its legacy continues today with members upholding the group’s mission to honor, document, preserve, and represent the history, culture, and lived experiences of the African diaspora with integrity and respect. During this conversation, Kamoinge member and photographer Lola Flash talks with multimedia artist Sadie Barnette about their unique approaches to history, our current moment, and Afrofuturism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHAhsbLuk8A
To embrace the spirit of Afrofuturism and create paradigms liberated from Western cultural hegemony, Lola created Syzygy, the Vision, an ongoing self-portrait series where the artist transforms herself into a representation of every Black person subjected to the horrors of racism, sexism, and homophobia. The series takes its name from an astronomical term for where the sun, earth, moon, and/or planets align to create an eclipse. Flash adopts this straight-line configuration to contemplate the pasts, presents, and futures of Black people across time and space. There will be a total of 100 images when Lola completes the series. http://www.lolaflash.com/syzygy
Lola Flash, Milky Way, 2021. From the Syzygy, the Vision series. In the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture recently purchased seven of Lola’s photographs through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative.: https://nmaahc.si.edu/lgbtq/lola-flash
Lola Flash, Lola Flash, 2008. Included in the collection of The National Museum of African American History and Culture.
PICTURING BLACK GIRLHOOD: MOMENTS OF POSSIBILITY. EXPRESS NEWARK | PAUL ROBESON GALLERIES, Newark, NJ
Feb 2022 - July 2022 “This international exhibition featured over eighty-five Black women, girls, and genderqueer artists - ranging in age from 8 to 94 - who work in the mediums of photography and film and have a sustained practice exploring the theme of Black girlhood. Black girls are our most innovative cultural producers, community connectors, and trendsetters, but their contributions are rarely recognized and their lives are largely invisible in our dominant culture. In contrast, this exhibition considers Black girlhood as an essential stage of development, an integral moment of political awakening, an embattled site of representation, and a critical source of artistic inspiration throughout the globe”.: https://www.expressnewark.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Picturing-Black-Girlhood-Wall-Text.pdf
