Isaiah Harris: Confessions of Fire

Confessions of Fire is a flaming fight for freedom. An attempt to break out and leave behind the prisons that history has built for us and the ones we quietly build for ourselves.

In the gallery, hand-forged, sharp-edged, and metal-studded cages, carts, and contraptions made in raw steel roll on industrial-style roller wheels. They break apart. They come undone. They open up. You can also push them around like a shopping cart.

Each is emblazoned with poetic writings that call up raised keloid scars that develop after a whipping. One includes lyrics from Prince’s song “Slave” on the Emancipation album: “I want the chance to play the part of someone truly free.”

These are brutal objects. Torturous, even. They speak to emasculation of a Black man who loves leather, pink, and other men. And yet... They are also armor, protection, and machines of love.

From all this glowing metal and fierce conviction, a new visual language is forming. One that insists that real freedom begins with being true to yourself.

Isaiah Harris (b. 1992, The Bronx) lives and works in New York City. He’s a sculptor, videographer, and recent graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program. He also works as a leather and fetishwear consultant, which all feeds work that smacks of feeling, physical hardship, and the experience of being made of flesh.