Exhibition Review: Lyle Ashton Harris | Our First and Last Love

Lyle Ashton Harris, Zamble at Land’s End #2, 2018. Dye sublimation print on aluminum. Edition 1 of 3. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and LGDR, New York

Written by Jaden Zalkind

Copy Edited by Kee'nan Haggen

Photo Edited by Haley Winchell

Lyle Ashton Harris is a world-renowned artist with a diverse catalog scaling from photography, collage, installation, and performance art. Harris has used his work and platform to criticize and bring attention to societal constructs of race, sexuality, and his identity as a queer black man. Harris’s pieces are more than aesthetically pleasing images; they signify protest and a fight against social injustice. His long experience with photography has allowed him to include pictures from his youth and aged material to incorporate into his work today. Harris also carried a camera around since childhood, which his grandfather inspired. 

Lyle Ashton Harris, Brotherhood, Crossroads and Etcetera #2 [in collaboration with Thomas Allen Harris], 1994. Unique Polaroid. Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. Gift of Blake Byrne. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Courtesy of the artist and David Castillo, Miami. Image courtesy of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Afropunk Odalisque, 2018. Dye sublimation print on aluminum. Edition AP1. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and LGDR, New York.

Our first and last love exhibit at the Rose Art Museum encompasses 40 works of art from Harris’s illustrious career. He uses his most recent collection in this exhibition, Shadow Works, to create his archive. He does this by engaging some of his previous works and moments. 

Lyle Ashton Harris, Oracle, 2020. Ghanaian cloth, dye sublimation prints, and artist’s ephemera. Private Collection. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and David Castillo, Miami.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Succession, 2020. Ghanaian cloth, dye sublimation prints, and artist’s ephemera. Private Collection. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and LGDR, New York.

Harris’s " Succession " piece includes a vibrant, multi-patterned, red and black background with a two-piece collage. The focal point of this piece is the picture in the top right-hand corner, which is a photo of an infant, Lyle, sitting on the lap of his father and brother, Thomas Allen Harris, beside them. This piece shows the entanglement Harris has faced with defining himself while battling ties with family and social history. Identity is also explored with a picture of him surrounded by his family and then providing additional photos around it, adding an artistic twist, something he’s acquired throughout his life.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Billie Dreaming in Blue, 2021. Dye sublimation print on aluminum. Edition 2 of 5. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and LGDR, New York.

Harris’s ability to layer his work is extraordinarily unique and breathtaking. He can have colorfully loud backgrounds without them distracting the featured photos. The background image catches the viewer's eye and attracts them to his pieces, but the pictures on top of the background keep the viewer engaged and make them want to return for more. Although Harris’s work all have a similar style, each piece feels very different. He creates an underlying theme with the background image and collage-like style, including photos of people and objects of different periods and relevance.

Lyle Ashton Harris, Migration Times, 2020. Ghanaian cloth, dye sublimation prints, and artist’s ephemera. © Lyle Ashton Harris. Image courtesy of the artist and LGDR, New York.