Letha Wilson

Letha Wilson is an artist renowned for merging photography with industrial materials such as concrete and steel.

Biography of Letha Wilson

Letha Wilson was born in 1976 in Honolulu, Hawaii. She holds a BFA from Syracuse University and an MFA from Hunter College.

Her artistic journey has been enriched by residencies at prestigious institutions like the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and Headlands Center for the Arts.

Wilson's artistic achievements are recognized through prestigious awards. In 2020, she received an NYFA Artist Relief Grant from Anonymous Was A Woman (AWAW). The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) further distinguished her work with a 2019 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Photography. Additionally, the Jerome Foundation supported her artistic exploration with a travel grant.

Letha Wilson has exhibited widely with her solo exhibitions held at GRIMM in London, Higher Pictures Generation in Brooklyn, Galerie Christophe Gaillard in Paris, Anderson Ranch in Aspen, Brand New Gallery in Milan, Higher Pictures in New York, Vox Populi in Philadelphia, and many more.

The artist has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including "Photography into Sculpture" at Moskowicz Bayse in Los Angeles(2023), "Surface Tension" at Olson Gallery at Bethel University in St. Paul (2022), "Contaminated Landscapes" at Marc Straus Gallery in New York (2022), "Inaspettatamente" at Cloud Seven in Brussels (2021), among others. 

Currently, Letha Wilson lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. 

Letha Wilson's Art Style 

Letha Wilson draws inspiration from the American West landscapes and the land art movement of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly artists like Michael Heizer. 

She pushes the boundaries of traditional art forms by fusing photography with industrial materials. Corten steel, aluminum, and vinyl become her canvas, upon which she integrates photographic landscapes. Her unique fabrication processes involve printing stunning natural scenes directly onto the sculptures, embedding the images within the surface, and then manipulating them into unexpected compositions. This creates a captivating interplay between the industrial materials and the organic beauty of the natural world.

Wilson incorporates cutting and folding techniques into her photographic creations. Her artistic process is multifaceted, utilizing both traditional darkroom and digital photography. She works with various photographic materials including C-prints and emulsion transfers.