LAUREN HALSEY

Early Years

Born and raised in South Central Los Angeles, Halsey comes from a family deeply embedded in the neighbourhood’s cultural fabric. She attended the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies, then El Camino Community College, before earning a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts and an MFA from Yale University. Halsey’s early fascination with architecture, local signage, and the layered histories of her neighbourhood continues to inform her contemporary art practice. She lives and works in Los Angeles, where she also runs the Summaeverythang Community Center, founded in 2019 to support Black and Brown communities.

Lauren Halsey Artworks

Halsey’s contemporary art practice is defined by large-scale installations, sculptures, and site-specific projects that remix the signs, symbols, and everyday materials of South Central Los Angeles. Her work draws on Afrofuturism, funk, and the visual language of the African diaspora, merging past, present, and speculative futures.

Remixing the Neighbourhood

Halsey’s early works, such as we still here, there (Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, 2018), transformed gallery spaces into immersive environments layered with hand-painted signage, architectural fragments, and personal memorabilia. In an interview with Hans Ulruch Obrist published on Cultured magazine, Halsey describes these installations as ‘prototypes’ for future public projects, noting, ‘Every project I’ve done along the way has been a prototype. Did you always have this neighbourhood project as your goal?’.

Monumental Installations and Public Art

Halsey’s practice has expanded to include monumental outdoor works, such as her acclaimed rooftop installation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2023), and her participation in the 60th Venice Biennale (2024). In 2025, she continued work on sister dreamer, is a permanent sculpture park in South Central LA, described as ‘an architectural ode to tha surge n splurge of South Central Los Angeles’ and scheduled to open in 2026.

Community, Collaboration, and Resistance

Halsey’s art is inseparable from her activism and community engagement. Through Summaeverythang Community Center, she organises food distribution and educational programmes, embodying her belief that ‘What would it mean to make all this work about my community if I’m not contributing tangibly to its transcendence and upkeep?’. Her installations celebrate Black and Brown joy, resilience, and creativity, while addressing issues of gentrification and systemic inequality.

Public Commissions, Awards and Accolades

• sister dreamer, permanent sculpture park, South Central Los Angeles (opening 2026)
• Hammer Museum Gala in the Garden Honouree (2025)
• Roof Garden Commission, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2023)
• Mohn Award, Hammer Museum Made in L.A. Biennial (2018)
• Frieze Artist Award (2019)
• Gwendolyn Knight | Jacob Lawrence Prize, Seattle Art Museum (2021)

Exhibitions

Lauren Halsey has been the subject of both solo and group exhibitions at important institutions. A selection of important exhibitions is provided below.

Solo Exhibitions

• emajendat, Serpentine Galleries, London (2024–2025)
• Lauren Halsey, Seattle Art Museum (2022)
• Lauren Halsey, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2021)
• Lauren Halsey, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2019)
• we still here, there, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018)

Group Exhibitions

• 60th Venice Biennale, Venice (2024)
• Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (multiple years)
• Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (multiple years)

Critical Reception

Halsey’s practice has been featured in leading magazines, including Ocula.

Lauren Halsey FAQs

Ocula | 2025