Laylah Ali: Notes/Drawings/Untitled Afflictions is currently on view at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park. Ali’s new group of drawings and “notes” on display are scrawled vignettes derived from a compilation of random thoughts, overheard conversations, and snippets from media.
Using both word and image rendered deceptively simple, Laylah Ali (Season 3) questions the conventions of society by complicating its visual and linguistic symbols. Meaning in her art is never fixed, a trait that curator Dina Deitsch describes as “‘highly specific ambiguity.’ Exactly what her characters are doing, or why, is never made clear. Language, too, is slippery. All representation, she seems to say, is limited, unstable, and wholly unable to express truth. Bearing unexpected combinations of clothing, skin color, and hair, Ali’s characters subvert and question conventional visual markers of identity.”
If you find yourself in Lincoln, Massachusetts on September 4th, there is an opening reception from 7-9pm.
