Only in America
By D'Angelo Lovell Williams
Dashwood Books, 2020
Paperback, 5 1/4 x 8 in.
8 pages
$18.00
WPA Note:
In 2018, D’Angelo Lovell Williams participated in WPA's exhibition There Are No Shadows Here: The Perfect Moment at 30, curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden.
Description:
Published to accompany the exhibition entitled Papa Don’t Preach presented by Janice Guy and Higher Pictures at 520 West 143rd Street #2 in Harlem. From the artist’s statement: “January 7th, 2020, I was diagnosed with HIV. Only a handful of chosen family knew up until now. I’m on Biktarvy, taken once a day to suppress the virus. Soon I’ll be undetectable. Discovery is one of the driving forces behind the work. Drawing from moments of love, intimacy and kinship, I use my body in the home and the landscape to reconcile with our history. In the images, I aim to puncture the realm of self-awareness, creating a space where the spirits of Black bodies can live freely in their encounters with one another. My father and my mama’s mama, both reborn and never to sin again, provoke a renewed existence. The earth engulfs me as I pull the love of my life into the unknown. Confident, tender hands cradle the flesh of loved ones, immediate family, and the self, embodying gestures of both defiance and care. The demanding scenes mimic portals, delivering us to the parts of our own history that still linger in the every day.” – D’Angelo Lovell Williams
About the Author(s):
D’Angelo Lovell Williams is a Black, HIV-positive artist expanding narratives of Black and queer intimacy through photography. They earned their BFA in photography from Memphis College of Art in 2015, an MFA in photography from Syracuse University in 2018, and are a 2018 Skowhegan School of Art alum. They live and work in New York City. D'Angelo Lovell Williams has had four solo exhibitions with Higher Pictures in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The 2020 exhibition, Papa Don't Preach, was presented in collaboration with Janice Guy at her gallery in Harlem.