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Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case X, Shelf 932, Box A

Stay Afloat, Use a Rubber

Photograph
1993 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

A cross colour photograph depicting two men, wearing swimsuits, sitting in rubber rings, floating in a pool.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleStay Afloat, Use a Rubber (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
C-type colour print. Cross colour photography - this technique prints the image in a negative or reversed colour so, for example, blue is printed as red.
Brief description
Photograph by Lola Flash, 'Stay Afloat, Use a Rubber', C-type colour print, London, 1993
Physical description
A cross colour photograph depicting two men, wearing swimsuits, sitting in rubber rings, floating in a pool.
Dimensions
  • Height: 40.5cm
  • Width: 50.9cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1995
Marks and inscriptions
Signed in silver marker 'Lola Flash'.
Object history
Flash’s work first came to prominence in the late 1980s as they documented the advocacy work of the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, known as ACT UP. An active member, Flash captured demonstrations that took place in New York, Washington DC and London, and marched in solidarity alongside their peers. Flash developed her signature ‘cross-colour’ style during this time, a process which involves developing film in the ‘wrong’ solution. By adopting this abstracted, artistic approach, Flash is able to conceal the identities and genders of the sitters, using the ambiguous results of the colour inversion process to subvert perceptions of gender norms, race and representation.
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1995
Collection
Accession number
E.2940-1995

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Record createdMarch 31, 2009
Record URL
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