Deep and High
(online only)

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

“15 Mouths” consists of 15 photographs, each with a short text below it, all installed on a wall, along with an audio recording of an ensemble humming (not singing the lyrics) the Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart tune “It’s Easy to Remember (And So Hard to Forget)”. Simpson chose the song specifically as she has vivid memories of John Coltrane’s version of the song being present throughout her childhood. The text below each image of lips could potentially refer to the internal monologues inside the head (not shown) to whom the lips belong. As Holland Cotter wrote in the New York Times, “Much of Lorna Simpson’s photo-based work has been about African-American identity approached from an oblique and elusive perspective. Most of the figures in her pictures, usually black women, were filmed with their backs to the camera, as if to make them generic presences, adaptable to any narrative. The implication is that there are many narratives about race available, all of them conditional and subjective, created by the pressures of personal experience, interpretation and memory.”

Influenced by Holzer’s readings of political, art, religious, utopian, and other manifestos, the “Inflammatory Essays” are a collection of 100-word texts. Like any manifesto, the voice in each essay urges and espouses a strong and particular ideology. By masking the author of the essays, Holzer allows the viewer to assess ideologies divorced from the personalities that propel them. With this series, Holzer invites the reader to consider the urgent necessity of social change, the possibility for manipulation of the public, and the conditions that attend revolution. In the present form, the texts scroll along an LED screen. The speed, legibility and amount of digital “noise” varies from text to text. Furthermore, the LED can be hung either horizontally or vertically.

Influenced by Holzer’s readings of political, art, religious, utopian, and other manifestos, the “Inflammatory Essays” are a collection of 100-word texts. Like any manifesto, the voice in each essay urges and espouses a strong and particular ideology. By masking the author of the essays, Holzer allows the viewer to assess ideologies divorced from the personalities that propel them. With this series, Holzer invites the reader to consider the urgent necessity of social change, the possibility for manipulation of the public, and the conditions that attend revolution. In the present form, the texts scroll along an LED screen. The speed, legibility and amount of digital “noise” varies from text to text. Furthermore, the LED can be hung either horizontally or vertically.