Published to accompany the exhibition entitled “Papa Don’t Preach” presented by Janice Guy and Higher Pictures at 520 West 143rd Street #2 in Harlem. From the artist’s statement:
“January 7th, 2020, I was diagnosed with HIV. Only a handful of chosen family knew up until now. I’m on Biktarvy, taken once a day to suppress the virus. Soon I’ll be undetectable. Discovery is one of the driving forces behind the work. Drawing from moments of love, intimacy and kinship, I use my body in the home and the landscape to reconcile with our history. In the images, I aim to puncture the realm of self-awareness, creating a space where the spirits of Black bodies can live freely in their encounters with one another. My father and my mama’s mama, both reborn and never to sin again, provoke a renewed existence. The earth engulfs me as I pull the love of my life into the unknown. Confident, tender hands cradle the flesh of loved ones, immediate family, and the self, embodying gestures of both defiance and care. The demanding scenes mimic portals, delivering us to the parts of our own history that still linger in the every day.” – D’Angelo Lovell Williams.
