Lauren Halsey yes we're open and yes we're black owned Postcard

Artist Lauren Halsey’s architectural installations are simultaneously monuments to the culture in which she grew up and declarations of resistance to forces that pose a threat to historically Black spaces.

As a child, she decorated her room by painting on the walls and collaging images from  National Geographic andVibe. She was drawn to pictures of Black people in everyday moments. Her reorganization of this material within her room was, in effect, a precursor to her later artistic practice of creating of Black-centered environments. Having enjoyed making sets for church plays, after high school, she enrolled at El Camino College to study architecture. Her coursework prompted her to think about how communities do not—but could—have a say in what is built in their neighborhoods. The practice she has since developed through undergraduate and graduate studies, as well as residencies at institutions like the Studio Museum, investigates interventions into public space driven by community, conversation, and collectivity.

—
300gsm Munken (textured) paper, 5.8× 8.3 in.

Lauren Halsey
yes we're open and yes we're black owned
2021
Acrylic, enamel, and mirror on wood
47 1/2 x 49 1/2 x 48 in.

Studio Museum in Harlem; gift of Beth Rudin DeWoody