Laylah Ali: The Greenheads Series

This book is the first complete documentation of the Greenheads series by Laylah Ali (born 1968), created between 1996 and 2005. Consisting of over 80 works, Ali’s exquisitely rendered gouache-on-paper paintings chronicle the dystopian world of her enigmatic green-headed figures. This provocative imagery is open-ended, darkly humorous and triggers a range of associations through their references to the media, historical events and racial and gender tropes. The catalogue allows viewers to examine the evolution of the critically acclaimed series, from the early paintings, which focus on charged exchanges between groups of figures, to the later works, where the events and figures are radically and starkly pared down. The Greenheads Series includes texts by art historian and critic Julia Bryan-Wilson and poet Kevin Young, as well as an interview with the artist by curator Deborah Rothschild.