Your Silence Will Not Protect You

Lola Flash partnered with LiteBrite Neon to make this neon edition, which was gifted to the museum by former Executive Director, Gonzalo Casals, in memory of former Board member Margaret Rose Vendryes. This object is currently installed in the museum’s meeting room as a reminder to staff and visitors that our individual voices and choices are an essential part of movement-making. The text, attributed to a 1977 quote from Audre Lorde, features the flashing word “Silence” in a different color from the rest of the slogan. This designation is meant to evoke the slogan "SILENCE=DEATH," the famous rallying cry for ACT UP and AIDS activists, of which Flash was one. Informed by their history of activism and her Black, queer identity, Flash’s pathmaking, three-decade practice has shifted the possibilities of representation—particularly in photography, their usual medium. Entering the field at the height of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, Flash wrestled with how to make marginalized figures and communities visible, highlighting their beauty while protecting their identity and agency as photographic subjects. Working with cross color development techniques, Flash pioneered new ways of creating queer subjectivity and representation in their work. The Leslie-Lohman Museum holds three photographs by Lola in our permanent collection.