Lezley Saar, The Silent Woman, 2015. Acrylic on fabric on panel. Courtesy of the artist and Walter Maciel Gallery, Los Angeles. Photograph by August Augustsson. © 2019 Lezley Saar

Lezley Saar’s work reflects both her biracial identity and her experience as mother to a transman.

Stylistically, Saar’s paintings reference Surrealism and Casta paintings, which illustrated racial mixing in Latin America during Spanish Colonial rule. 

“My own experiences of not fitting in being black, but looking white, led me to question what is truth.”
— Lezley Saar