I Pray
- Photograph by
- Flash, Lola, American, born 1959
- Subject of
- Flash, Lola, American, born 1959
- Date
- 2020
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (sheet): 24 × 36 in. (61 × 91.4 cm)
- H x W (image): 22 9/16 × 33 3/4 in. (57.3 × 85.8 cm)
- Caption
- Throughout the self-portrait series syzygy, the vision, photographer Lola Flash (they/them) dons a space helmet, an orange prison uniform, and handcuffs. “Heavy on my mind is America’s mass incarceration and the question of breaking free,” Flash writes of the series, which also reflects their personal experiences with the police. Flash was arrested in 2008 “for walking while Black.” Their teaching license was suspended, leaving them unemployed for six months. Although syzygy, the vision began as a response to Afrofuturism, it expanded with the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s killing to include themes of mass incarceration and Black Lives Matter. Like much of Flash’s work, the images confront issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, and ageism.
- Description
- An inkjet print self-portrait depicting the photographer, Lola Flash, as the lone figure in an empty New York City subway car. Flash wears a bright orange prison uniform and a futuristic white helmet with blue visor. The short-sleeve prison shirt is worn over a long-sleeved white t-shirt and Flash also wears white gloves and white sneakers. A printed fabric face mask covers their nose and mouth. They sit slightly sideways on the plastic bench in the subway car, leaning forward with their elbows resting on their knees and hands in front of their face. There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.
- Place depicted
- New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Portfolio/Series
- syzygy, the vision
- Classification
- Photographs and Still Images
- Movement
- Afrofuturism
- Type
- portraits
- inkjet prints
- Topic
- Art
- Black geographies
- Freedom
- Identity
- LGBTQ
- Photography
- Prayer
- Prisons
- Race discrimination
- Spirituality
- Transportation
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
- Object number
- 2021.57.4
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Lola Flash
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.