- Photograph by
- Flash, Lola, American, born 1959
- Subject of
- Flash, Lola, American, born 1959
- Date
- 2021
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W (sheet): 24 × 36 in. (61 × 91.4 cm)
- H x W (image): 22 1/2 × 30 1/16 in. (57.2 × 76.3 cm)
- Caption
- Throughout the self-portrait series syzygy, the vision, photographer Lola Flash 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 several years of personal interactions with the police. Flash was arrested in 2008 “for walking while Black.” Flash’s teaching license was suspended, leading to unemployment. 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 documentary photographs of Black Lives Matter protests.
- Description
- An inkjet print self-portrait depicting the photographer, Lola Flash, as the lone figure at a walk-up ice cream shop. A large black and white sign above the stand reads [MILKY WAY]. Flash wears a bright orange prison uniform over a long-sleeved white t-shirt, white sneakers, and a futuristic white helmet with blue visor and is walking away from the shop, holding a soft-serve twist cone despite being handcuffed at the wrists. There is a “NO PARKING” stenciled on the pavement in front of the kiosk ordering windows, and four yellows stanchions in a row in front of the ordering windows. There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.
- Place depicted
- Villas, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, North and Central America
- Portfolio/Series
- syzygy, the vision
- Classification
- Photographs and Still Images
- Movement
- Afrofuturism
- Type
- portraits
- inkjet prints
- Topic
- Black geographies
- Freedom
- Identity
- LGBTQ
- Photography
- Prisons
- Race discrimination
- 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
- 2021.57.7
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Lola Flash
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




