Lonnie Holley: All Rendered Truth

This ambitious exhibition gave UK audiences access to some of the lesser-known work of American artist and musician Lonnie Holley (b.1950, Birmingham, Alabama).

For more than four decades, Holley has been making work spanning sculpture, painting, music and moving image. Long recognised as an important figure in the Black Art tradition from the Southern States of America – an artistic community that includes Thornton Dial, Joe Minter and the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers – Holley’s work continues and extends a tradition of assemblage found in both African diasporic traditions as well as 20th century and contemporary American art.

Holley’s practice is informed by the poverty and hardships of his early childhood, his immersion in the civil rights movement, the legacies of slavery, and the systematic oppression and exploitation of Black people. While this biography now holds a somewhat mythic status, the exuberant, joyful and optimistic example of his life’s work by far exceeds that story, speaking to our shared humanity and a love of the natural world. In the artist’s own words, his work gives a “thumbs up for mother universe”.

From small sculptural assemblages and works on paper to monumental new sculptures and large­ scale paintings, a recurring motif of faces seen in profile repeats across many of Holley’s works. His ‘drawings in space’, works made with twisted wire, signify connection, communication and networking, as well as danger, containment, and incarceration. These composite, multi-layered portraits honour his ancestral lineage, including Yoruba and Native American heritage – the lives that have gone before and that are carried in his DNA.

Lonnie Holley: All Rendered Truth was on display at Camden Art Centre, London, from 5 July until 15 September 2024.