The Lens of Black & Queer Photography

Lola Flash, Photographer

Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics for more than three decades, Flash’s photography challenges stereotypes and gender, sexual and racial preconceptions. Her art and activism are profoundly connected, fueling a life-long commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of LGBTQIA+ and communities of color worldwide. 

She received her bachelor's degree from Maryland Institute and her Masters from London College of Printing. In 2008, she was a resident at Light Work and in 2015, she participated at Alice Yard, in Trinidad. In 2019, she was a resident at Center for Photography at Woodstock. Flash has work included in public collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Brooklyn Museum, the Whitney and MoMa.  

Pen + Brush Gallery’s inaugural exhibition for 2018, featured a 30-year retrospective of her significant photographs. 

Flash’s practice is firmly rooted in social justice advocacy around sexual, racial and cultural difference. 

OJ Slaughter is a Virginia-born, New Jersey-raised, Boston-based artist. Their work focuses on autonomy in photography and allows subjects to work with them instead of telling them who they need to be in the photo. OJ creates work that places the viewer in a world of their making.

OJ's primary goal is to capture images for our future past. Their work has captured everything from Civil Rights protests, album and magazine covers, news stories, and more.

OJ works currently as the Visual Creative Director for Sound On, a music series for WBUR. They most recently created work for The Institute of Contemporary Art Boston in collaboration with Virgil Abloh for his "Figures Of Speech" show. "Breaking Cycles" was then featured in the Deana Lawson show at the ICA. OJ is now the Curator and Gallery Manager for Leica Gallery Boston.  

Briona Simone Jones is Assistant Professor of English and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Connecticut, specializing in African American literature, Feminist and Queer Theory, and Black Queer studies. Jones has published a collection of Black Lesbian writings titled Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, the most comprehensive anthology centering Black Lesbian Thought to date. Jones is currently working on her monograph, Black Lesbian Aesthetics, which is a study of the heretical shift in self-definition that transpired after the groundbreaking formation of the Combahee River Collective in 1974.

Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, 2021, Briona Simone Jones, cover artist: Emily Mahon, and cover photo: tochi hannah.