Artist

Lava Thomas

born Los Angeles, CA 1958
Also known as
  • Lavynell Thomas
Born
Los Angeles, California, United States

Works by this artist (1 item)

Lava Thomas, Requiem for Charleston, 2016, tambourines, pyrographic calligraphy on lambskin, acrylic discs and braided trim, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Nion McEvoy, 2017.4A-Y, © 2016, Lava Thomas
Requiem for Charleston
Date2016
tambourines, pyrographic calligraphy on lambskin, acrylic discs and braided trim
Not on view

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      Lava Thomas discusses her work Requiem for Charleston, which honors the nine men and women who died in a shooting on June 17, 2015, inside the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. The artist explains her use of materials, including tambourines, black lambskin, black acrylic disks, and pyrographic calligraphy.

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      A photograph of a figure looking at Requiem for Charleston at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
      Seeing Things05/11/2018
      The other day, my colleague, Libby, and I walked through the museum in search of an artwork we could talk about. And though each artwork has a story to tell, Lava Thomas's "Requiem for Charleston," the artist's response to the church massacre at Mother Emanuel in 2015, spoke the most to us, in a quietly powerful way (if such a thing is possible).