Lauren Halsey is Still Here, There

Who Lauren Halsey
What Site-Specific Installations
When Through September 3

we still here, there is Lauren Halsey's mesmerizing, cave-like installation at MoCA. The annexed gallery space was unassuming among the more prominent Real Worlds photography retrospective. However, Halsey's cavernous exploration of the spectrum of Black experience in South Central LA was so dynamic that it was hard to move on to the other works on display.

So, naturally it was exciting to see Halsey on the roster for the Hammer Museum's Made In L.A. biennial. Where her MoCA installation turns inward, meandering in and out of the psyche of South Central's visuality, The Crenshaw District Hieroglyphic Project (Prototype Architecture) at the Hammer is upright and outward in its presentation. Reminiscent of The Met's Egyptian hall, but with indicators of Halsey's hand almost instantly apparent, this project dominated much of the mezzanine at the Hammer and received the $100,000 Mohn Award from the museum.  

By exploring Black LA within the framework of classic 'origins' of culture (a cave, an ancient temple), Halsey redefines the perceptions of Black iconography and Black stories in the context of a larger fabric of the human experience.  

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