Hieroglyph 1

2018

Hieroglyph 1, 2018. D'Angelo Lovell Williams (American, b. 1992). Inkjet print; image: 114 x 76.1 cm (44 7/8 x 29 15/16 in.); paper: 118.6 x 80.9 cm (46 11/16 x 31 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, L. E. Holden Fund 2020.280 © D’Angelo Lovell Williams These two men, whose arched backs and clasped hands form a symmetrical, abstracted character, are the artist and a lover. In this exploration of intimate gestures and connections, they balance and mirror each other. “Discovering the variations of intimacy is important for Black and queer people,” says the artist, “because that looks so different for many of us, and it doesn’t even exist to others.” Touch—black flesh meeting black flesh—is a central theme in the art of D’Angelo Lovell Williams.