Lauren Halsey
sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to the surge n splurge of south central los angeles
Western Avenue & 76th Street
Permanent Installation
For an art experience like no other in LA, I’m sending you — not to the increasingly art-filled Northern end of Western Avenue, now called “Melrose Hill” and home to galleries David Zwirner, Ochi, Wilding Cran and Frankfurt Ordorica, as well as restaurants Etoile, Kuya Lord, Café Telegrama, and La Coupe — but, instead, far, far South on Western, to 76th Street in South Central, where a corner lot has been transformed by artist Lauren Halsey into a brilliant, fun and wonderful art installation to which you should take your friends, children, parents, and out-of-towners.
The official name for the sculpture park, is sister dreamer lauren halsey’s architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of south central los angeles. Halsey’s nonprofit Summaeverythang Community Center is offering programming at the park including lectures, screenings, youth workshops and community events.
What you see when you arrive is an enclosure filled with a double row of sphinxes, four on each side, with columns behind them – all alabaster white – each of the columns has four faces leading to a walled enclosure that you can walk inside and through. Inscribed on the walls of the 22-foot high cube, inside and out, are the signposts of a cultural history of South Central, where Halsey grew up. There is a vegetable garden, fruit trees, and a fountain for contemplation.
You can’t help but smile at the juxtaposition of contemporary faces on the sphinxes, and the cube which called to mind images of the Kaaba in Mecca, that made me also think of the AfroFuturism and ancient Egypt’s veneration of Sun Ra.
The location was once home to Gwen’s Ice Cream, which closed in 2014 after a fire, and where Halsey often went as a child. Celebrating her community has always been central to Halsey’s practice.
Installation view of sphinxes and columns at sister dreamer sculpture park. Photo by Tom Teicholz.
For those following Halsey’s artistic journey over the last few years, it’s common knowledge that this installation is the culmination and latest iteration of a journey Halsey has been engaged with for almost two decades.
The Studio Museum in Harlem exhibited her drywall carvings in 2015. A larger, more extensive version appeared in the 2018 iteration of the Hammer Museum’s Made in LA. And the sphinxes and cube appeared on the rooftop garden of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023. And finally, the new LACMA David Geffen galleries, features a specially commissioned Sphinx prominently installed there.
The Park is open from sunrise to sunset, Wednesday through Sunday and is presently scheduled to remain in place through September 2027, although I suspect that will be extended, as LACMA hopes it to be the anchor of a satellite South Central location).
Like the sculptures of Thomas J. Price, whose large bronze figures make everyday Black people recognition-worthy, Halsey’s work celebrates local heroes whom tradition sculpture has long ignored. The faces on the sphinxes and columns are of Halsey’s family members and some of her mentors. Among those she has enshrined are Margaret Prescod (Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders), Robin Daniels (Sisters of Watts) and Rosie Lee Hooks (Watts Tower Arts Center Campus). The entrance of the cube features images of the women who were murdered by the Grim Reaper who was responsible for killing at least ten Black women in LA in the 1980s.
sister dreamer sculpture park (closer view). Photo by Tom Teicholz.
The experience of visiting Sister Dreamer is joyous. The engravings inside and out of the cube include signs, sayings and images that make for a cultural history of South Central, and expressions of Black Pride. On the day I visited, there were students shooting videos, skateboarders admiring the graffiti-like etchings, and tourists, as well.
Halsey has been fundraising for Sister Dreamer for years. For the current installation about half the funding came from the Mellon Foundation, according to the LA Times. The rest was from private donors, including, according to the New York Times, other artists such as Charles Gaines, Mickalene Thomas, Julie Mehretu, and celebrities such as hoopster LeBron James, Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell.
sphinx detail, sister dreamer sculpture park. Photo by Tom Teicholz
After visiting Sister Dreamer, drive back north on Crenshaw Blvd. to see the evolving ‘Destination Crenshaw’ a 1.3 mile cultural corridor. At Leimert Park, always a hub for cultural activity, one can also visit Art and Practice, Mark Bradford’s community center, art gallery and performance space.
With Sister Dreamer, Lauren Halsey has come into her power, making art and creating community by celebrating where she grew up, and how its history and people are worthy of remembrances and monuments.
Cover image: Wall at sister dreamer sculpture park; photo by Tom Teicholz.
