Centropy dir. Deana Lawson

Deana Lawson (b. 1979, Rochester, NY) creates images of Black diasporic identity that powerfully evoke the self-possession and divinity of her subjects. In 2020, Lawson became the first photographer to receive the Hugo Boss Prize, a biennial award that honors significant achievement in contemporary art. 

On the occasion of the exhibition, Lawson has conceived this 20-minute film, which expands upon the personal histories and thematic structures that inflect the installation in the gallery. Also titled Centropy, the film is a meditative visual essay that encompasses interviews with individuals who have been formative to Lawson’s life and work, archival footage, and evocations of the artist’s process. It approaches from oblique angles topics including ancestral histories, Black ecologies, and the science of holography.

Directed by Lawson with cinematography by Bradford Young, the film was produced by the filmmaking collective The Ummah Chroma under its banner, Ummah Chroma Creative Partners (UCCP).