Leslie Lyons series goes on show as part of No Dead Artists exhibition in New Orleans

Leslie Lyons, GIRDLE self-portrait from the series, WHO CAN I BE NOW?

GIRDLE from Leslie Lyons’ new self-portrait (mostly) series WHO CAN I BE NOW? has been selected for the annual No Dead Artists National Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the Jonathan Ferrara Gallery. No Dead Artists is co-presented by ArtDaily.org, billed as “the first art newspaper on the net’.

Each year, gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara invites a panel of renowned arts professional and collectors to select the newest creative talents. This year collector and arts philanthropist Toby Devan Lewis, New Orleans Museum of Art director Susan Taylor, and 21c museum director William Morrow, made up the jury.

This series is the first in an on-going project in which music photographer Leslie Lyons selects a song of influence to her and illustrates the lyrics with photographs. The exhibition runs until 24 September.  The  work will also be shown at the Expanded Music Project exhibition at Land of Tomorrow Gallery (LOT), in Louisville, Kentucky opening 18 November.

See over for Lyons’ artist statement and a couple more images from the series, which have been described as “quite provocative”…

© Leslie Lyons, BEFORE

© Leslie Lyons, AFTER

Artist statement Leslie Lyons: “Images from my most recent portrait series, WHO CAN I BE NOW? use the David Bowie song of the same name as a platform for inspiration at the intersection of music and art. Turning the camera on myself, I investigate the phenomenon of memetics and cultural transfers from generation to generation.

“Using family props – my grandmother’s girdle, my father’s symbolic football helmet, my daughter and my own ideas of image – I explore gender identity, stereotypes and individual expression through the mental equivalent of the gene, called the “meme”. The aesthetic for this series borrows from both Polaroid photography and classic painting textures and was shot on my first camera – a twin lens medium format Rollei.”

About Leslie, from the press release: “Leslie’s aesthetic grew out of the post-punk era of a D.I.Y. lifestyle exploring street culture, sexuality and social commentary. As primarily a self-taught photographer, her personal work investigates ways in which we communicate with each other – through identity and language. By extension, her commercial work usually comes from within the music industry, collaborating with recording artists on their image and ways to capture individuality through pictures.”

Lyons is also working with Academy-Award nominated producer and director, Kimberlee Acquaro to produce her first narrative film, KINGDOM COME, and has an Indigogo campaign on the go.