Quil Lemons

Quil Lemons’ work is a representation of the community he comes from. The context of his work comes from the internet, queerness, and popular culture, the themes of his work are timeless and ambitious in scope. Subjects such as masculinity, queerness, race, and body positivity are played out in often disruptive images that feel like pure imagination. Lemons dances the line between the fantastic and realistic, drawing influence from our current cultural climate, giving his work an eerily familiar feeling.

GLITTERBOY(2017) introduced Lemons to the world and started a dialogue that would act as a common thread through much of his work to come. In his inaugural series, Lemons dusted black men with glitter to combat the stereotypes and stigmas placed upon their bodies. This concept of challenging what is acceptable for the black male body developed even further in BOY PARTS (2020).

Simultaneously, Lemons began an exploration of the black family portrait with his series PURPLE (2018) and project WELCOME HOME (2018). Images from both projects gave an intimate glimpse into his home life and the modern black American family structure in Philadelphia.
Quil has previously exhibited at Contact Festival, Toronto ’18, Kuumba Festival, Toronto ’19 and Aperture, NY ’19.