Lloyd Foster: Double Double at WINDOW: WINDOW, 91 Walker Street New York, NY (corner of Walker and Lafayette Street)

At 91 Walker Street, Lloyd Foster utilizes the storefront format to recreate Covenant International Grocery & Fabrics, a local West African market located in Laurel, Maryland, which he frequently visited growing up. Here the viewer encounters a sculptural simulation of a small grocery store, complete with a store attendant, a scale for weighing produce, an ATM, a meat counter, advertisements and signage, and an inventory of various specialty food products. Foster's exploration of this format is a continuation of his 2021 Market Series, an immersive exhibition in which he presented sculptural works amongst the produce and merchandise inside Stella Adebola’s African Caribbean Food Market in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.

Lloyd Foster (b. 1990, lives and works in New York) is the son of Ghanaian immigrants and grew up in Maryland. While he and his family were part of an extended Ghanaian American community in the Washington D.C. area, a major turning point in his life occurred on his first trip to his parents’ homeland at age 24. Since then, and through repeated travels over the past decade in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, the artist’s connection to his African heritage has deepened, and his exploration of self continues to evolve.

Foster engages with a myriad of materials, including paint, insulation foam, sapor sponges, fabrics, netting, and much more, but photography is at the center of his practice. During his travels, the artist takes photos of people engaged in their daily activities, of vehicles, signs and buildings, and food and beauty products he sees in local shops. Certain photos are straight documentation, and others are posed. Foster’s attention gravitates towards sights, sounds, and smells that reminds him of his childhood. After returning home from his travels and reflecting on his photos, the artist follows an intuitive process by which he transforms memories into physical forms. In this way, he uses photography as a means to mine his personal biography, preserve memories and create new connections.