{"id":1815881,"date":"2026-03-09T14:11:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815881"},"modified":"2026-03-09T14:11:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T11:11:00","slug":"lauren-halseys-ode-to-the-maximalism-and-excess-of-south-central-la","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815881","title":{"rendered":"Lauren Halsey\u2019s ode to the \u2018maximalism and excess\u2019 of South Central LA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-1493-1995-1330\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441058.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/art-photography\/article\/69858\/1\/lauren-halsey-sister-dreamer-south-central-los-angeles-installation-art\" data-article-id=\"69858\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-portrait-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Lauren Halsey\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1280\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441058.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Lauren Halsey<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-09T14:11:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"09 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"9\">9,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - art-photography\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\">Art &amp; Photography<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Lauren Halsey\u2019s ode to the \u2018maximalism and excess\u2019 of South <span class=\"nowrap\">Central LA<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>Ahead of the opening of her major new installation, Sister Dreamer, we speak to the artist about the \u2018surge \u2018n\u2019 splurge\u2019 of South Central, childhood memories of ice cream parlours, Egyptology and spaces that <span class=\"nowrap\">transcend time<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-09T14:11:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"09 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"9\">9,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-09T14:11:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"09 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"9\">9,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/laurapitcher\">Laura Pitcher<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Lauren Halsey takes a non-linear approach to time. \u201cI\u2019m always conflating the past and the present with aspirations for a transcendent future, no matter what it is I make,\u201d the artist told Dazed. What she makes, immersive installations that bridge sculpture and architecture, has travelled from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Serpentine in London. But her latest installation, <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer,<\/span><\/em><span> may be one of her most personal projects yet \u2013 it\u2019s an ode to her birthplace, where her family has lived for generations, situated in the very place that her distinct visual language is rooted in, South Central Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span>, more specifically, is an ode to the \u201csurge \u2018n\u2019 splurge\u201d of South Central. By that, Halsey explains that she means her community\u2019s maximalism and excess. \u201cI\u2019m really interested in a certain level of density of maximalism that might be perceived as chaotic, but is perfectly in order,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you happen upon the compositions, there\u2019s this too muchness that is meant to hold you in them as you code and read through images and text.\u201d And there <\/span><em><span>is<\/span><\/em><span> plenty to take in. When you enter from Western Avenue, there\u2019s a dramatic procession into the centrepiece, a cube, passing a corridor of eight sphinxes and Hathoric columns, each carved with portraits of the artist\u2019s family, friends and heroes and functioning as spiritual protectors of the space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer, <\/span><\/em><span>Lauren presents the people who guided her back to themselves. In the face of gentrification, it\u2019s not just a monument honouring those people; it will be actively in service to the community they came from. Halsey\u2019s nonprofit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/summaeverythangcc.org\/\"><span>Summaeverythang Community Center<\/span><\/a><span> will oversee public programming for the site. Ahead of the opening (and street fair), we spoke to Halsey about vacant lots, ice cream, Egyptology and spaces that transcend time. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"125dd16e-0d5e-41e4-bae9-b40800cc827d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441059.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.19\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Eastside of South central LA hieroglyph prototype\" class=\"img\" height=\"2531\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441059.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">The Eastside of South central LA <span class=\"nowrap\">hieroglyph prototype<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">The Met<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>Congrats on <\/strong><strong><em>Sister Dreamer<\/em><\/strong><strong>! Could you tell me about where the idea came from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>When <\/span><span>I graduated from high school, and I started attending a local community college in LA, I was taking the architecture program with the art program simultaneously. At the same time, I was an avid bus rider. I\u2019ve never driven, really, and so, at the time, Western Avenue was filled with these vacant lots. I started thinking very aspirationally about building in these spaces. I just had a list of lots that I wanted to appropriate as these sites of joy, that could potentially be a garden, a plaza, a pavilion, a structure of some sort. <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span> was a former ice cream shop that I would spend time at with my friends as a kid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are the memories that you have of that ice cream shop?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>My core memories of that site were it being a site of community, love, fun and joy. I thought poetically it made sense to present something that exists in that same vein. And it\u2019s the most perfect corner parcel. You get to see the elevation. And you can approach it from all coordinates: northwest, east, and south.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>You and your family have a long history in South Central LA. How did that inform the installation?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> The concept <\/span><span>of the project is that it is an architecture that pays homage to a South Central history beginning in 1921, or 1922, when they came via the Great Migration. The cladding, the columns, the sphinxes, all of it honours our businesses, our pageantry, our material culture, our knick-knacks, our car culture, our fashion, our aesthetic. There\u2019s a pantheon of Black historical heroes, leaders that are so important to our history, but there\u2019s also a pantheon of hyperlocal leaders who have also sustained the sort of genius in the neighbourhood that I wanted to honour and who are still doing the work right now. It\u2019s an ode to those folks as well, both the living and those who have passed. I wanted folks to see themselves in it and be like, \u2018Oh, yo, that\u2019s so-and-so from around the corner\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What about the materials? How did it come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> The chef doesn\u2019t give up the recipe, but I will say that, not being an architect with a capital \u2018A\u2019, I spent deep time on YouTube just watching videos on how certain buildings and institutions were made. I came across how the Broad Museum was made downtown, and it literally was a how-to video on creating the cladding. In watching the process, I thought my studio could adapt that process as well as casting and glass fibre reinforced cement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your work is always research-heavy. What else were you looking at or exploring in the process?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> I was knee deep in archives of all textures: familial ones that are informal and amazing research archives from libraries in the neighbourhood. Also, institutional archives online. There\u2019s everything in this from our ephemera, flyers, signage, and material culture. I was thinking of the things that we make with our hands to language around some of the festivals that were happening post-civil rights, and trying to summon that in an image pictorially. It\u2019s literally a little bit of everything. It\u2019s the micro and macro pulling in and pulling out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"23bdd498-fecf-4825-8c7d-b40800cce5d5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441060.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sister Dreamer\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441060.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Allen Chen, <span class=\"nowrap\">SLH Studio<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>What about the references to Egyptology? That\u2019s a running theme in your work!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>To make a really, really, really long story short, I grew up with a father who was this sort of idiosyncratic Egyptologist who was testifying on the pyramids and pharaohs and remixing it to speak into power into our ancestry and our bloodline. Having existed as Black folks in this country and not doing the sort of DNA testing that links you back to our origin story, my father\u2019s way to assert esteem and pride for himself, my brother, me, and my mother, was these studies, from the likes of Lorraine O\u2019Grady. As opposed to linking our bodies towards the violence of the slave trade, she would merge us into the context of Pharaohs so that we would take on this royal headspace. When I moved to Harlem in 2014, I realised this wasn\u2019t just my father\u2019s thing, it is a Black thing. We obviously weren\u2019t all pharaohs, and I\u2019m not an Egyptologist, but it\u2019s using the language to speak power into a community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Who do the sphinxes in <\/strong><strong><em>Sister Dreamer<\/em><\/strong><strong> represent?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>People I love dearly. My mother, brother, grandma who passed, my girlfriend, a couple of cousins, and one of my heroes, Robin Daniels of Sisters of Watts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>You&#8217;ve previously said that people make a neighbourhood a neighbourhood. How do you hope people engage in the space?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>The park will exist and function at no cost to the community, ever. It\u2019s open from <\/span><span>sunrise to sunset, so come ponder, sit, chill and read. Programming-wise, we\u2019re working towards an ambitious program calendar with the pillars of education and wellness. We\u2019re hitting the ground running with everything from academic support, like drop-in tutoring, to sound baths and comedic yoga. There will also be jazz nights, game nights and film screenings, so I get to wear all these hats. One week I\u2019m working as a promoter, getting flyers out and putting up signs, but then the next week I\u2019m booking shows. It\u2019s a maximalist endeavour! And the programming is what\u2019s going to animate it and hold people there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>People talk a lot about today\u2019s loneliness epidemic. What role do you believe public spaces play in community-building?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>They\u2019re everything, especially when they\u2019re free. It democratises the way <\/span><span>folks are in community. The takeaway for <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span> is to be in an oasis with folks in a shared safe space because, otherwise, we don\u2019t really have that over here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nomadicdivision.org\/\">Sister Dreamer<\/a><em> is situated at <\/em><\/span><em>76th Street and Western Avenue, South Central Los Angeles and will run from March 14 2026 until September 2027.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! 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src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-148-1575-1047\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/9\/1439436.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Life lessons from the legendary photographer Larry Sultan<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69770\/1\/dykes-emily-lipson-photo-book-queer-portraits-lesbians-photography\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Emily Lipson, Dykes\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-220-2308-1535\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/9\/1439324.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">These intimate photos show the multiplicity of \u2018Dykes\u2019<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69768\/1\/most-loved-photo-stories-from-february-2026\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Miranda Barnes, Social Season, Important Flowers\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-1-1575-1048\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1430\/6\/1436676.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">The most loved photo stories from February 2026<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Lauren Halsey takes a non-linear approach to time. \u201cI\u2019m always conflating the past and the present with aspirations for a transcendent future, no matter what it is I make,\u201d the artist told Dazed. What she makes, immersive installations that bridge sculpture and architecture, has travelled from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the Serpentine in London. But her latest installation, <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer,<\/span><\/em><span> may be one of her most personal projects yet \u2013 it\u2019s an ode to her birthplace, where her family has lived for generations, situated in the very place that her distinct visual language is rooted in, South Central Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span>, more specifically, is an ode to the \u201csurge \u2018n\u2019 splurge\u201d of South Central. By that, Halsey explains that she means her community\u2019s maximalism and excess. \u201cI\u2019m really interested in a certain level of density of maximalism that might be perceived as chaotic, but is perfectly in order,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen you happen upon the compositions, there\u2019s this too muchness that is meant to hold you in them as you code and read through images and text.\u201d And there <\/span><em><span>is<\/span><\/em><span> plenty to take in. When you enter from Western Avenue, there\u2019s a dramatic procession into the centrepiece, a cube, passing a corridor of eight sphinxes and Hathoric columns, each carved with portraits of the artist\u2019s family, friends and heroes and functioning as spiritual protectors of the space.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>With <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer, <\/span><\/em><span>Lauren presents the people who guided her back to themselves. In the face of gentrification, it\u2019s not just a monument honouring those people; it will be actively in service to the community they came from. Halsey\u2019s nonprofit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/summaeverythangcc.org\/\"><span>Summaeverythang Community Center<\/span><\/a><span> will oversee public programming for the site. Ahead of the opening (and street fair), we spoke to Halsey about vacant lots, ice cream, Egyptology and spaces that transcend time. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"125dd16e-0d5e-41e4-bae9-b40800cc827d\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441059.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.19\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Eastside of South central LA hieroglyph prototype\" class=\"img\" height=\"2531\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441059.jpg\" width=\"3000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"caption\">The Eastside of South central LA <span class=\"nowrap\">hieroglyph prototype<\/span><\/span><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">The Met<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>Congrats on <\/strong><strong><em>Sister Dreamer<\/em><\/strong><strong>! Could you tell me about where the idea came from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>When <\/span><span>I graduated from high school, and I started attending a local community college in LA, I was taking the architecture program with the art program simultaneously. At the same time, I was an avid bus rider. I\u2019ve never driven, really, and so, at the time, Western Avenue was filled with these vacant lots. I started thinking very aspirationally about building in these spaces. I just had a list of lots that I wanted to appropriate as these sites of joy, that could potentially be a garden, a plaza, a pavilion, a structure of some sort. <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span> was a former ice cream shop that I would spend time at with my friends as a kid.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are the memories that you have of that ice cream shop?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>My core memories of that site were it being a site of community, love, fun and joy. I thought poetically it made sense to present something that exists in that same vein. And it\u2019s the most perfect corner parcel. You get to see the elevation. And you can approach it from all coordinates: northwest, east, and south.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>You and your family have a long history in South Central LA. How did that inform the installation?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> The concept <\/span><span>of the project is that it is an architecture that pays homage to a South Central history beginning in 1921, or 1922, when they came via the Great Migration. The cladding, the columns, the sphinxes, all of it honours our businesses, our pageantry, our material culture, our knick-knacks, our car culture, our fashion, our aesthetic. There\u2019s a pantheon of Black historical heroes, leaders that are so important to our history, but there\u2019s also a pantheon of hyperlocal leaders who have also sustained the sort of genius in the neighbourhood that I wanted to honour and who are still doing the work right now. It\u2019s an ode to those folks as well, both the living and those who have passed. I wanted folks to see themselves in it and be like, \u2018Oh, yo, that\u2019s so-and-so from around the corner\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>What about the materials? How did it come together?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> The chef doesn\u2019t give up the recipe, but I will say that, not being an architect with a capital \u2018A\u2019, I spent deep time on YouTube just watching videos on how certain buildings and institutions were made. I came across how the Broad Museum was made downtown, and it literally was a how-to video on creating the cladding. In watching the process, I thought my studio could adapt that process as well as casting and glass fibre reinforced cement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Your work is always research-heavy. What else were you looking at or exploring in the process?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey:<\/strong><span> I was knee deep in archives of all textures: familial ones that are informal and amazing research archives from libraries in the neighbourhood. Also, institutional archives online. There\u2019s everything in this from our ephemera, flyers, signage, and material culture. I was thinking of the things that we make with our hands to language around some of the festivals that were happening post-civil rights, and trying to summon that in an image pictorially. It\u2019s literally a little bit of everything. It\u2019s the micro and macro pulling in and pulling out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"inline-img expandable dev-view-hide\" data-img=\"23bdd498-fecf-4825-8c7d-b40800cce5d5\" data-src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/2000\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441060.jpg\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"0.67\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"portrait\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Sister Dreamer\" class=\"img\" height=\"3000\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/786\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441060.jpg\" width=\"2000\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"credit\">Photography Allen Chen, <span class=\"nowrap\">SLH Studio<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>What about the references to Egyptology? That\u2019s a running theme in your work!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>To make a really, really, really long story short, I grew up with a father who was this sort of idiosyncratic Egyptologist who was testifying on the pyramids and pharaohs and remixing it to speak into power into our ancestry and our bloodline. Having existed as Black folks in this country and not doing the sort of DNA testing that links you back to our origin story, my father\u2019s way to assert esteem and pride for himself, my brother, me, and my mother, was these studies, from the likes of Lorraine O\u2019Grady. As opposed to linking our bodies towards the violence of the slave trade, she would merge us into the context of Pharaohs so that we would take on this royal headspace. When I moved to Harlem in 2014, I realised this wasn\u2019t just my father\u2019s thing, it is a Black thing. We obviously weren\u2019t all pharaohs, and I\u2019m not an Egyptologist, but it\u2019s using the language to speak power into a community.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Who do the sphinxes in <\/strong><strong><em>Sister Dreamer<\/em><\/strong><strong> represent?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>People I love dearly. My mother, brother, grandma who passed, my girlfriend, a couple of cousins, and one of my heroes, Robin Daniels of Sisters of Watts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>You&#8217;ve previously said that people make a neighbourhood a neighbourhood. How do you hope people engage in the space?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>The park will exist and function at no cost to the community, ever. It\u2019s open from <\/span><span>sunrise to sunset, so come ponder, sit, chill and read. Programming-wise, we\u2019re working towards an ambitious program calendar with the pillars of education and wellness. We\u2019re hitting the ground running with everything from academic support, like drop-in tutoring, to sound baths and comedic yoga. There will also be jazz nights, game nights and film screenings, so I get to wear all these hats. One week I\u2019m working as a promoter, getting flyers out and putting up signs, but then the next week I\u2019m booking shows. It\u2019s a maximalist endeavour! And the programming is what\u2019s going to animate it and hold people there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>People talk a lot about today\u2019s loneliness epidemic. What role do you believe public spaces play in community-building?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Lauren Halsey: <\/strong><span>They\u2019re everything, especially when they\u2019re free. It democratises the way <\/span><span>folks are in community. The takeaway for <\/span><em><span>Sister Dreamer<\/span><\/em><span> is to be in an oasis with folks in a shared safe space because, otherwise, we don\u2019t really have that over here.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nomadicdivision.org\/\">Sister Dreamer<\/a><em> is situated at <\/em><\/span><em>76th Street and Western Avenue, South Central Los Angeles and will run from March 14 2026 until September 2027.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/art-photography\/article\/69858\/1\/lauren-halsey-sister-dreamer-south-central-los-angeles-installation-art&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/0-1493-1995-1330\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/1\/1441058.jpg&#8221;] Lauren Halsey March\u00a0 9,\u00a0 2026 Art &amp; Photography \/ Q+A Art &amp; Photography \/ Q+A Lauren Halsey\u2019s ode to the \u2018maximalism and excess\u2019 of South Central LA Ahead of the opening of her major new installation, Sister Dreamer, we speak to the artist about the \u2018surge \u2018n\u2019 splurge\u2019 of South Central, childhood [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1815881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1815881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1815881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1815881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1815881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}