Lloyd Foster: Height and Soil

Height and Soil takes its title from the Dutch etymology of Haarlem—haar (height/sandy ridge) and lem (silt/soil)—evoking both the elevation and groundedness that characterize Lloyd Foster's photosculptures of Harlem residents. Foster transforms documentary photography into three-dimensional form, cutting and reshaping individual portraits captured during the African American Day Parade and daily encounters around the neighborhood's landmarks.

Through his distinctive process of photosculpture, Foster creates images that exist between documentation and intervention, between the flatness of photography and the volume of sculpture. Each figure is cut from its original photograph and reformed to occupy physical space rather than merely depicting it. The hanging installation activates the window as both threshold and mirror, reflecting the street life it documents while creating dialogue between artistic observation and lived experience.

Foster's subjects, photographed at braiding shops, bodegas, brownstone stoops, and parade routes, are not passive representations but activated presences. Their suspension in the gallery window creates a choreography of community, where individual moments accumulate into collective testimony.

The installation's visibility from the street returns these portraits to the neighborhood from which they emerged. In suspending his subjects between dimensions, Foster captures the complexity of contemporary Harlem itself: a neighborhood simultaneously rooted in history and reaching toward transformation, grounded in tradition yet elevated by aspiration.

Artist Bio

Lloyd Foster is a New York-based artist working across photography, sculpture, and installation. He holds an MFA in Studio Art from New York University. His work has been exhibited at White Columns, Anton Kern Gallery, Timothy Taylor Gallery, and The Campus, among others. Foster’s public art includes a 2025 billboard commission at SWG3 in Glasgow (curated by Jim Lambie) and a Times Square Space residency. His work is held in the permanent collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Foster has taught photography at NYU Steinhardt and continues to engage communities through educational programming.

Curator Bio

Destiny Gray is a New York-based curator whose work centers on expanding access to contemporary art and fostering meaningful connections between artists and communities. She was a participant in Independent Curators International (ICI) New York Curatorial Seminar and works in curatorial at White Cube with US-based artists and estates, contributing to exhibitions internationally, while developing independent curatorial initiatives.