Looking Back and Seeing Now

2015. Tambourines, Lambskin, Leather, Ribbon, Acrylic Mirrors, Digital Prints, Glue, Monofilament Wire, S-hooks, Wood and Steel. 12' x 20' x 15'

Berkeley Art Center. 2015. Photo credit: John Wilson White

Looking Back and Seeing Now (Detail)

Installation view. Berkeley Art Center. 2015. Photo credit: John Wilson White

Looking Back I

2015. Graphite, Conte crayon, charcoal and watercolor on paper. 72" x 72"

Looking Back II

2015. Graphite, Conte Crayon, Charcoal and Watercolor on Paper. 72" x 72"

Looking Back III

2017. Graphite, Conte crayon, charcoal and watercolor on paper. 36" x 39"

Looking Back IV

2021. Graphite, Conte crayon, charcoal and watercolor on paper. 36" x 39"

Looking Back and Seeing Now is an immersive, kinetic, site-specific installation which includes large-scale portraits based on photographs from the artist’s family archive. The central installation features hanging tambourines whose whose drums have been altered with mirrored disks, enlarged details of eyes from the portraits, lambskin, and suede. Fans cause the tambourines to spin slowly, creating a gentle rustling of bells reminiscent of the sound of rain, while blue theatrical lights create shadows that move across gallery walls. As the silent faces of the women from a past era regard the audience, history confronts the present, challenging the viewer to ask what has changed and what remains the same.

Sarah Burke writes in in her review for the East Bay Express:

As the mirrored tambourines spin, they reflect everything around them, such that viewers will literally see themselves within it. And as they watch the jangling cloud turn, it watches them back, forcing an exchange of mutual acknowledgment. The piece is not like a conceptual puzzle offering a specific correlation between each of its parts that alludes to an underlying thesis. It's more comparable to a poem, in which signifiers contribute to a host of possible meanings drawn out by the viewer. It's meant to be a catalyst for contemplation.

Exhibitions:
Lava Thomas: Homecoming, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA
Lava Thomas: Homecoming, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, AL | Exhibition Catalog
The Black Index (Traveling Exhibition) | Exhibition Catalog | Virtual tour
UC Irvine University Art Gallery, Irvine, CA
Palo Alto Arts Center, Palo Alto, CA
Art Galleries at Black Studies — University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
Hunter College Art Galleries, New York, NY
Looking Back and Seeing Now, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA.