<I>Milky Way</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2021
name: label: Photograph by
content: Lola Flash, American, born 1959
label: Subject of
content: Lola Flash, American, born 1959
notes: label: Caption
content: Throughout the self-portrait series syzygy, the vision, photographer Lola Flash dons a space helmet, an orange prison uniform, and handcuffs. “Heavy on my mind is America’s mass incarceration and the question of breaking free,” Flash writes of the series, which also reflects several years of personal interactions with the police. Flash was arrested in 2008 “for walking while Black.” Flash’s teaching license was suspended, leading to unemployment. Although syzygy, the vision, began as a response to Afrofuturism, it expanded with the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd’s killing to include themes of mass incarceration and documentary photographs of Black Lives Matter protests.
label: Description
content: An inkjet print self-portrait depicting the photographer, Lola Flash, as the lone figure at a walk-up ice cream shop. A large black and white sign above the stand reads [MILKY WAY]. Flash wears a bright orange prison uniform over a long-sleeved white t-shirt, white sneakers, and a futuristic white helmet with blue visor and is walking away from the shop, holding a soft-serve twist cone despite being handcuffed at the wrists. There is a “NO PARKING” stenciled on the pavement in front of the kiosk ordering windows, and four yellows stanchions in a row in front of the ordering windows. There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.
place: label: Place depicted
content: Villas, Cape May County, New Jersey, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Black geographies
label: Topic
content: Freedom
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: LGBTQ
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Prisons
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: syzygy, the vision
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
label: Movement
content: Afrofuturism
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.57.7
objectType: label: Type
content: portraits
label: Type
content: inkjet prints
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Lola Flash
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (sheet): 24 × 36 in. (61 × 91.4 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (image): 22 1/2 × 30 1/16 in. (57.2 × 76.3 cm)