Long-Sharp Gallery Indianapolis kicks off its 2022 gallery season with a solo exhibition for mixed-media artist Lavett Ballard. The exhibit, My Soul Has Got To Move, will open on February 4th and close March 26th. It features more than a dozen works by Ballard, with over half created specifically for this exhibition.
The Indianapolis exhibition title references a “1978 gospel-funk-soul song of the same name, a tune about change and transformation… many of the artworks and their titles express such themes as presence, personal evolution, gender empowerment, racial solidarity, and collective uplift,” says Dr. Tiffany E. Barber, scholar, curator, and critic who wrote the essay about Ballard and her works in this exhibit. Dr. Barber concludes with this thought:
“[The work in this exhibit] builds on complex histories of African American and feminist collage. Ballard’s shadow figures and warrior queens respond to the political and cultural milieu of America’s immediate past while centering formal innovation and Black expressive traditions connected to hip hop culture, gospel and soul.”
Ballard’s works have been exhibited in numerous museums, are in important collections, and her portrait of Rosa Parks was featured on the 2020 cover of TIME Magazine. She was recently named by Black Art in America as one of the top 10 emerging Black female artists and is expected to attend the opening in Indianapolis. She is represented exclusively by Long-Sharp Gallery & Galerie Myrtis.
