LightSource is pleased to present:
The Break Before the Swell
A solo exhibition by Dionne Lee
A solo exhibition by Dionne Lee. Opening June 8th from 6–8pm at Studio 2W, The Break Before the Swell presents a series of works by Oakland-based artist, Dionne Lee. With the works in this exhibition, Lee performs gestures of claim over her position within the American landscape. She is interested in the ways that our individual and collective cultural histories influence our contemporary relationship with and access to land, landscape, and power in the United States. While Lee’s work is inspired in part by the time she spends in wilderness areas and nature preserves around the Bay Area, her work is also informed by her ongoing research into the history of black bodies on American soil, posing questions around who willfully engages, thrives, and feels safe in the American landscape.
With the works in The Break Before the Swell, Lee explores histories of exclusion, inclusion, empowerment, and disempowerment that are embedded in representations of the American landscape.
Dionne Lee (b. New York City, 1988) received her MFA from California College of the Arts, Oakland (2017). Her work has been exhibited at venues including the Aperture Foundation, New York; School of the International Center of Photography, New York; Rush Arts Gallery, New York; Aggregate Space, Oakland; LAND AND SEA, Oakland; Root Division, San Francisco; and Embark Gallery, San Francisco. In 2011 Lee was a Photography Fellow at The Camera Club of New York, and in 2016 she received the Barclay Simpson Award and was selected as a Graduate Fellow at Anderson Ranch Arts Center. Lee lives and works in Oakland, California.
The Break Before the Swell is organized by guest curator, Christina Wiles and produced by LightSource.
LightSource SF | 1661 Tennessee St #2W San Francisco, CA 94107 | 415.621.1448
The show will run from June 8th–July 13th
Image Credit: 1. Dionne Lee, Breaking the Fall, 2016; courtesy the artist
2. Dionne Lee, trespass is the most beautiful word, 2017; courtesy the artist
Sponsored by:
