Lloyd Foster
Safe Journey

March 19–April 30, 2022
Several artworks are installed in a gallery. Uniquely sized sculptures hang from the ceiling, and one sculpture is propped up in the back left corner of the room. A large work is centered on the right wall, a photo is on the back wall, and four identically sized, framed works are on the wall to the left.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Several works are installed in a gallery, including one wall work and many sculptures suspended from the ceiling. In the background is a shopping cart containing additional sculptures.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Three paintings and a photograph are installed on adjacent white walls. Four sculptural works are suspended from the ceiling and one is situated on the floor, leaning in the corner of the room.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

An array of colorful, variously sized sculptures hang throughout a gallery. Imagery includes cars, winged figures, and animated figures. In the back left, two photos are hung side by side on a wall.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Multiple sculptures, framed works, and large photographs are installed in a gallery.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Nine works are installed on the three surrounding walls. There are three framed drawings on the left, a large photograph in the back, and five painted sculptures on the right. Various sculptures hang from the ceiling in the center of the space.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Installation view showing various mixed media works installed on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. One sculpture hung on the right wall is draped in a red netting fabric and another hanging from the ceiling depicts a stylized, expressive human head.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

Three framed works are installed on a freestanding wall in the center of a gallery, and others are installed on the perimeter walls. Textured sculptures hang from the ceiling throughout the space, with depictions including stylized photographs, winged figures, and otherwise animated figures.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

A frontal view of four works installed in front of an arched gallery entrance. Two framed drawings are installed on either side of the entry and two hanging sculptures are in the center.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022.

A colorful, mixed media sculpture is propped in the corner of the room. The sculpture depicts a man carrying a young girl in his arms.

Lloyd Foster
Kid sister and I, 2021.
Styrofoam and acrylic paint
27 × 14 × 1 in.

A large mixed media sculpture hangs behind the gallery’s front desk. The sculpture shows a photograph of a boy wearing a white t-shirt with his hands clasped. Yellow wings are painted on him.

Lloyd Foster
Saspo, 2021.
Styrofoam, acrylic paint and inkjet print
37.25 × 43 × 1.5 in.

Press Release

White Columns is pleased to present Safe Journey, the first solo exhibition in New York by the Ghanaian-American artist Lloyd Foster.

For White Columns Foster has created a dense, immersive and labyrinth-like installation that juxtaposes suspended mixed-media sculptural works, framed works-on-paper, large-format overpainted photographic prints, and video works presented on pre-digital television monitors. Materially promiscuous, Foster’s visceral works freely combine paint, photographs, drawings, insulating foam, sponges, nets, pumice, hibiscus, and much more besides.

Foster has described his work as an exploration of what he terms as “time away” – journeys both physical and metaphorical. Working from his own photographic sources and video footage shot during repeated visits to Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania made between 2015 and 2021, Foster has created an emotionally and psychologically complex body of work that is ultimately centered around his relationship with photography, and photography’s relationship with time, experience, memory and loss. In a recent interview Foster expanded upon these ideas:

“My art is heavily inspired by my childhood. I sometimes find myself reliving life moments through the people that I’m photographing and their experiences. For instance, looking at the photograph that I took of a mother holding her children’s hands as they walk on the beach, it reminded me of the times my mother held my hand as we took laps around the lake when I was younger. There are certain moments that ‘click’ to me, and I appreciate seeing them, even if I’m not photographing them.”

In his ongoing series of text drawings Foster establishes an inventory – a form of cross-cultural mapping – of the goods, produce and foodstuffs that one might encounter in an African street market. For a 2021 project Foster installed his own works among the produce at Stella Adebola’s African Caribbean Food Market in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. Exploring questions of identity – both personal and cultural – Foster’s kinetic practice disrupts, and ‘explodes,’ the conventional narratives and intentions we might typically associate with the documentarian and documentary photography itself. Forster creates unruly image-objects that are constantly in flux and open to interpretation. In Foster’s hands images – like memories – become more liminal, fleeting even.

Lloyd Foster (b. 1990, Washington, D.C.) lives and works in New York City. He received an MFA from New York University in 2021; and received a B.Sc. from Saint Francis University, Loretto, PA, in 2012. He is a founder of Yeboah Studios: a platform that bridges African countries and the diaspora through culture and collaboration. In the summer of 2021 he organized ‘Market Series’ in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, where he choregraphed his own works among the produce and merchandise on sale in Stella Adebola’s African Caribbean Food Market. He has exhibited in a number of solo and group exhibitions including: ‘Home Museum,’ LagosPhoto Festival, Lagos, Nigeria (2020); ‘America Is…’, Touchstone Gallery, Washington, D.C. (2019); and ‘Connecting the Dots 2’, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA (2018), among others. ‘Safe Journey’ is his first solo exhibition in New York.

For more information, please contact: info@whitecolumns.org

Several artworks are installed in a gallery. Uniquely sized sculptures hang from the ceiling, and one sculpture is propped up in the back left corner of the room. A large work is centered on the right wall, a photo is on the back wall, and four identically sized, framed works are on the wall to the left.
Several works are installed in a gallery, including one wall work and many sculptures suspended from the ceiling. In the background is a shopping cart containing additional sculptures.
Three paintings and a photograph are installed on adjacent white walls. Four sculptural works are suspended from the ceiling and one is situated on the floor, leaning in the corner of the room.
An array of colorful, variously sized sculptures hang throughout a gallery. Imagery includes cars, winged figures, and animated figures. In the back left, two photos are hung side by side on a wall.
Multiple sculptures, framed works, and large photographs are installed in a gallery.
Nine works are installed on the three surrounding walls. There are three framed drawings on the left, a large photograph in the back, and five painted sculptures on the right. Various sculptures hang from the ceiling in the center of the space.
Installation view showing various mixed media works installed on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. One sculpture hung on the right wall is draped in a red netting fabric and another hanging from the ceiling depicts a stylized, expressive human head.
Three framed works are installed on a freestanding wall in the center of a gallery, and others are installed on the perimeter walls. Textured sculptures hang from the ceiling throughout the space, with depictions including stylized photographs, winged figures, and otherwise animated figures.
A frontal view of four works installed in front of an arched gallery entrance. Two framed drawings are installed on either side of the entry and two hanging sculptures are in the center.
A colorful, mixed media sculpture is propped in the corner of the room. The sculpture depicts a man carrying a young girl in his arms.
A large mixed media sculpture hangs behind the gallery’s front desk. The sculpture shows a photograph of a boy wearing a white t-shirt with his hands clasped. Yellow wings are painted on him.

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Several artworks are installed in a gallery. Uniquely sized sculptures hang from the ceiling, and one sculpture is propped up in the back left corner of the room. A large work is centered on the right wall, a photo is on the back wall, and four identically sized, framed works are on the wall to the left.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Several works are installed in a gallery, including one wall work and many sculptures suspended from the ceiling. In the background is a shopping cart containing additional sculptures.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Three paintings and a photograph are installed on adjacent white walls. Four sculptural works are suspended from the ceiling and one is situated on the floor, leaning in the corner of the room.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (An array of colorful, variously sized sculptures hang throughout a gallery. Imagery includes cars, winged figures, and animated figures. In the back left, two photos are hung side by side on a wall.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Multiple sculptures, framed works, and large photographs are installed in a gallery.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Nine works are installed on the three surrounding walls. There are three framed drawings on the left, a large photograph in the back, and five painted sculptures on the right. Various sculptures hang from the ceiling in the center of the space.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Installation view showing various mixed media works installed on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. One sculpture hung on the right wall is draped in a red netting fabric and another hanging from the ceiling depicts a stylized, expressive human head.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (Three framed works are installed on a freestanding wall in the center of a gallery, and others are installed on the perimeter walls. Textured sculptures hang from the ceiling throughout the space, with depictions including stylized photographs, winged figures, and otherwise animated figures.)

Lloyd Foster, installation view, 2022. (A frontal view of four works installed in front of an arched gallery entrance. Two framed drawings are installed on either side of the entry and two hanging sculptures are in the center.)

Lloyd Foster Kid sister and I, 2021. Styrofoam and acrylic paint 27 × 14 × 1 in. (A colorful, mixed media sculpture is propped in the corner of the room. The sculpture depicts a man carrying a young girl in his arms.)

Lloyd Foster Saspo, 2021. Styrofoam, acrylic paint and inkjet print 37.25 × 43 × 1.5 in. (A large mixed media sculpture hangs behind the gallery’s front desk. The sculpture shows a photograph of a boy wearing a white t-shirt with his hands clasped. Yellow wings are painted on him.)