Lucas Foglia: Constant Bloom at Fredericks & Freiser (on view through May 31, 2025)
“A breath of fresh air” is an expression I automatically ascribe to the photographer Lucas Foglia (American, b. 1983), whose current show at Fredericks & Freiser is a poetically moving journey across geographies. This exhibition is the result of a well-deserved Guggenheim Fellowship that Foglia received in 2024. Nature, still life, and genre scenes are all brought together in an inviting atmosphere in which we, the viewers, are led on a transnational voyage based on the migratory patterns of the painted lady butterflies. According to the Canadian-based non-profit Monarch Butterflies, this species of butterfly is a symbol of “the marvels of nature and the interconnectedness of all living beings.”
There is an optimistic tone to the exhibition with many of the photographs as one will find images of the painted lady butterfly going about its business in the most gorgeous locales: a lavender field in France, the desert plateaus of Morocco, or a glacier in Switzerland. Of course, the show’s theme creates a balance in giving equal attention to tragedy. One of Foglia’s photographs is a ground-level view of a pot of wilting flowers before multiple caskets - a memorial to refugees who lost their lives while attempting to start a new beginning in Italy. The tragedy of the natural world is also addressed as seen in a photo of a painted lady butterfly resting on the skull of a camel on the sands of Jordan.
Hope is an overt theme that makes itself crystal clear in Foglia’s photography. For even in the midst of pain and suffering, there is a sense of community, the comfort of nature, and an unwavering spirit. Foglia’s breathtaking photographs made me wish that Sir David Attenborough could be in the room providing a documentary-style narration of the symbiotic relationship between the enduring human spirit and the gentle tenacity of our fluttering insect friends.