Baby, I Got the Blues: Photographs by Azya Lashelle

As we prepare for FWMoA’s largest fundraiser of the year, the ArtRageous Gala, this exhibition will be closed March 1-4.

“Throughout the exhibition, Baby, I Got the Blues, color is used to explore the ways in which “Blue” shows up within the Black community. There are multiple ways in which to experience the color Blue: the derogatory phrase “Blue-Black”, commonly used to describe a person whose skin has gone so far beyond black that it looks Blue; the state of emotional being, as in, “Today, I feel Blue”; and the physicality and act of turning Blue, for example, when one can’t breathe.   

With the use of glass cyanotypes, a printing process known for its deep cyan-blue color, I aim to be transparent in the telling of the Black experience in Amerika. My portraits demonstrate how the Black community lives between a space of stigmatized visibility and negligent invisibility. The subjects wear white as a reference to innocence and purity that decriminalizes the Black body and urges us to reflect on the privilege of inherent whiteness.” 

-Azya Lashelle 

Azya Lashelle was born and raised in Ypsilanti, Michigan. In 2019, she received her B.F.A. in Painting with a minor in Museum Studies from Michigan State University and is currently working towards her M.F.A. in Photography at Georgia State University. Her work explores the impact of racism on her own life and the greater Black community in America. Through an interdisciplinary practice, Lashelle navigates the transgenerational trauma of slavery on the contemporary Black psyche.  

This exhibition will be on display in the Print and Drawing Study Center, which has different hours.

Tuesday – Friday: 10am – 3pm or by appointment
Starting August 12, the PDSC will be open 5-8pm every 2nd Thursday!
Contact Sachi Yanari-Rizzo at 260.422.6467, ext. 336 or sachi.yanari@fwmoa.org  to schedule a visit.