Project Space Resident

Larry Cook

August 4 – August 18, 2026

Artist’s Statement

My work explores how the pose and hand-painted backdrops circulate within vernacular club photographs, often re-imagining them through collage, digital manipulation, and staged photography. From 2007 to 2013, I worked as a club photographer in the Washington D.C. area, setting up makeshift photo booths that featured backdrops of surrealist landscapes and luxury goods. The surrealist backdrops symbolize not just material luxury but also the aspirations and dreams that manifest in the ephemeral space of club culture. I’m interested in iconography within Black vernacular images and how it shapes our understanding of history and culture.

Bio

Larry W. Cook is an interdisciplinary artist and archivist working across photography, video, and mixed media. Cook received his MFA from George Washington University. Cook has exhibited his work nationally at the Brooklyn Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, MoMA PS1, National Portrait Gallery, and internationally at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt in Germany and Efie Gallery in Dubai. His work is in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Harvard Art Museums, Baltimore Museum of Art, Light Work, and other institutions. Cook is a recipient of the 2024 Gordon Parks Fellowship. He is an Associate Professor at Howard University.

VSW Project Space Residencies are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the New York State Legislature, Monroe County, and Joy of Giving Something. Photography-based artists participating in the program receive support from the Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.