Visually Speaking: Through a Lens Queer(ly)
Navigating the contemporary political landscape for many is a daunting task. Imagine forces against you because of your beliefs and gender orientation in spite of civil right advances. As part of BPL Presents’s Democracy Lab in the Spacebuster at Grand Army Plaza, join us for this special edition of Visually Speaking! as we discuss the visual culture and its inclusion surrounding the gaze of the LGBTQ community through imagery, with Photographic Artist Lola Flash in conversation with Dr. Jonathan Square.
Lola Flash uses photography to challenge stereotypes and offer new ways of seeing that transcend and interrogate gender, sexual, and racial norms. She received her bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute and her Masters from London College of Printing, in the UK. Flash works primarily in portraiture with a 4x5 film camera, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. In 2008, she was a resident at Lightwork and in 2015, she participated at Alice Yard, in Trinidad, West Indies. Flash was awarded an Art Matters grant, furthering two projects, in Brazil and London. Flash’s work is also included in important public collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as featured in the publication Posing Beauty, edited by Deb Willis. Most recently, her Images were displayed during Pen + Brush Gallery’s inaugural exhibition this year which included a 30 year-retrospective of her work. Flash’s work welcomes audiences who are willing to not only look but see.
Dr. Jonathan Michael Square is a historian and curator specializing in fashion, queer aesthetics, and visual culture in the African Diaspora. He holds a PhD in history from New York University, a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Cornell University. He is currently a faculty member in the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature at Harvard University. His writing has been appeared in Aperture, Hyperallergic, Fashionista, International Journal of Fashion Studies, Refinery29, and the Fashion Studies Journal.
The Visually Speaking series is curated by photographer Terrence Jennings for the Brooklyn Public Library.
View the schedule for the whole week here.
Photographer credit: Lola Flash
Visually Speaking is made possible in part through Brooklyn Public Library’s Fund for the Humanities, established through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Hearst Foundation, Inc., Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Starr Foundation, Leon and Muriel Gilbert Charitable Trust, Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc., and a gift in memory of Samuel and Pauline Wine. Additional funding was provided through the generosity of an anonymous donor.
Navigating the contemporary political landscape for many is a daunting task. Imagine forces against you because of your beliefs and gender orientation in spite of civil right advances. As part of BPL Presents’s Democracy Lab in the Spacebuster at Grand Army Plaza, join us for this special edition of Visually Speaking! as we discuss the visual culture and its inclusion surrounding the gaze of the LGBTQ community through imagery, with Photographic Artist Lola Flash in conversation with Dr. Jonathan Square.
Lola Flash uses photography to challenge stereotypes and offer new ways of seeing that transcend and interrogate gender, sexual, and racial norms. She received her bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute and her Masters from London College of Printing, in the UK. Flash works primarily in portraiture with a 4x5 film camera, engaging those who are often deemed invisible. In 2008, she was a resident at Lightwork and in 2015, she participated at Alice Yard, in Trinidad, West Indies. Flash was awarded an Art Matters grant, furthering two projects, in Brazil and London. Flash’s work is also included in important public collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, as well as featured in the publication Posing Beauty, edited by Deb Willis. Most recently, her Images were displayed during Pen + Brush Gallery’s inaugural exhibition this year which included a 30 year-retrospective of her work. Flash’s work welcomes audiences who are willing to not only look but see.
Dr. Jonathan Michael Square is a historian and curator specializing in fashion, queer aesthetics, and visual culture in the African Diaspora. He holds a PhD in history from New York University, a master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Cornell University. He is currently a faculty member in the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature at Harvard University. His writing has been appeared in Aperture, Hyperallergic, Fashionista, International Journal of Fashion Studies, Refinery29, and the Fashion Studies Journal.
The Visually Speaking series is curated by photographer Terrence Jennings for the Brooklyn Public Library.
View the schedule for the whole week here.
Brooklyn Public Library - Grand Army Plaza MM/DD/YYYY 60