2022 Keynote Lecture
with Lyle Ashton Harris
Recorded in San Diego on May 7, 2022
Lyle Ashton Harris presented the tenth annual Keynote Lecture for the Medium Festival of Photography on May 7, 2022. The Keynote Lecture headlines the Medium Festival as a signature event in our annual programming.
Working within a diverse artistic practice ranging from photography and collage to installation and performance art, Harris’ work explores intersections between the personal and political. Incorporating his perspective as a queer Black artist, Harris examines the impact of ethnicity, gender, and desire on our contemporary social and cultural fabric.
About
Lyle Ashton Harris became a significant figure in the international photography community in the late 1980s/early 90’s. Shooting 35mm Ektachrome, the artist describes this period as “a backdrop of seismic shifts in the art world, the emergence of multiculturalism, the second wave of AIDS activism, and incipient globalization.” Over these years, Harris turned the lens on his circle of friends and lovers, capturing notable figures such as Catherine Opie, Glenn Ligon, Nan Goldin, Isaac Julien, and others, during a period of ascendancy in their careers.
Please join us for a rare West Coast opportunity to gain a unique insight into the work of this seminal artist.
The Gold Standard II, 2019
Unique assemblage (Ghanaian cloth, two-dye sublimation prints, ephemera), 40 31/50h x 49 3/4w in.
Financial Support for the Keynote Lecture is provided by the City of San Diego
Lyle Ashton Harris, © Lloyd Foster
Biography
Born in the Bronx, New York, raised in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and New York, Lyle Ashton Harris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts, and attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program.
Harris’ work is represented in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Tate Modern, London, UK, among many others. Harris is a Professor of Art at New York University and lives in New York. His book Today I Shall Judge Nothing That Occurs was published by Aperture in 2017. A solo exhibition of his works spanning three decades will be presented by the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in 2022.
Lyle Ashton Harris is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the David C. Driskell Prize from the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Rome Prize Fellowship.