Syzygy I

Throughout the self-portrait series syzygy, the vision, photographer Lola Flash dons a space helmet, an orange prison uniform, and handcuffs. “Heavy on my mind is America’s mass incarceration and the question of breaking free,” Flash writes of the series, which also reflects several years of personal interactions with the police. Flash was arrested in 2008 “for walking while Black.” Flash’s teaching license was suspended, leading to unemployment. Although syzygy, the vision, began as a response to Afrofuturism, it expanded with the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s killing to include themes of mass incarceration and documentary photographs of Black Lives Matter protests.

An inkjet self-portrait depicting the photographer, Lola Flash, as a lone figure against a landscape of water and distant mountains. Flash stands gazing into the distance, arms crossed, while wearing a bright orange prison uniform, a futuristic white helmet with blue visor, and bright orange handcuffs that dangle from one wrist. There are no prints or inscriptions, front or back.