The lumber room is honored to present a solo exhibition by the Brooklyn-based photographer Nona Faustine. Spanning a decade-long career, Faustine’s work explores the perseverance and strength of Black life. She is most widely known for her groundbreaking series White Shoes (2012-2021), a collection of self-portraits taken at historical sites marking New York City's 300-year involvement in the chattel slave trade. Often wearing nothing but white-heeled pumps, Faustine confronts these landmarks with unwavering resolve, seeking to unveil and challenge the obscured histories woven within them. For this exhibition, lumber room is presenting selections from White Shoes alongside a newly-acquired portfolio of Faustine’s ongoing series Mitochondria. This more intimate collection of images portrays Faustine's domestic life as a mother, sister, and daughter, encapsulating the profound love and resilience nurtured within these familial roles. Simultaneously, it reinforces the artist's unique perspective, one guided by critical investigation, self preservation, and ultimately— liberation.
The title Mitochondria, refers to the mitochondrial DNA encoded in human genes, which is inherited solely from the mother. The work unfolds as a series of snapshots portraying the artist's life intertwined with her sister Channon, their late mother Queen Elizabeth Simmons, and her daughter Queen Ming. When showcased as a whole, the series becomes a tribute to an intergenerational lineage of women and the inherent care that defines it. Like all of Faustine’s work, these images are steeped in historical research and symbolism. With them, she pays homage to her father's passion for photography and the family albums he meticulously crafted during her childhood. They also subtly reference Lyndon B. Johnson's 1965 Moynihan Report, which stereotyped and politicized Black American family dynamics. Art historian and cultural critic Maurice Berger has observed that the series is also informed by “photographer Marilyn Nance’s explorations of spirituality and faith in the African-American community, Sally Mann’s controversial photographs of her children, Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes’s epochal 1955 photo essay about Harlem, ‘The Sweet Flypaper of Life,’ and Rita Dove’s poems about motherhood and family.”
The artist states: “I wanted to show the quiet, normal moments of this family of African-American women: our everyday life, our happy moments, our down moments, Mitochondria is a family album, a visual diary of our intimate lives. I felt passionate about showing this because you rarely see these moments in mainstream media or museum or gallery exhibitions. We are like everyone else. And that’s what I wanted to share.”
More information on the event can be found here.