Lyle Ashton Harris: Our first and last love

Both personal and universal, Harris’ oeuvre weaves together legacies of family dynamics, queer histories and Afro-cosmopolitanism.

Gathering photographs, assemblages, video installations and archival selections from his celebrated and lesser-known series, Our first and last love charts new connections across the artistic practice of New York–based artist Lyle Ashton Harris (born 1965). Informed by an adolescence that unfolded in New York City and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as well as several years spent living in Ghana, Harris explores the complexities of African and African American collective identity while forging his own personal narrative as a Black queer man.

This book and its accompanying solo survey exhibition chronicles Harris’ approach to representation and self-portraiture while tracing recurrent themes and formal techniques in his work over the last 35 years.

Central to this curated selection is Harris’ most recent series titled Shadow Works, mixed-media assemblages of photographic prints embedded in Ghanaian printed textiles with cowrie shells, pottery, handwritten notes, clippings of the artist’s dreadlocks and other personal ephemera. In both the exhibition and its catalog, these works serve as thematic anchors underscoring Harris’ layered approach to his ongoing creative explorations.

Lyle Ashton Harris was born and was raised in New York City and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Harris obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts. He attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program. Harris has cultivated a diverse artistic practice ranging from photography and collage to installation and performance art. His work explores intersections between the personal and the political, examining the impact of ethnicity, gender, and desire on the contemporary social and cultural dynamic. His artwork is available the following art galleries: Salon 94 (New York, NY, USA); David Castillo (Miami, FL, USA); Maruani Mercier (Brussels, BE). Harris is a Professor of Art at New York University and lives in New York.

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