Jessica Frances Grégoire Lancaster Explores Memory and Loss at Trotter&Sholer

Jessica Frances Grégoire Lancaster's solo exhibition "Don't Be a Stranger" at Trotter&Sholer in New York runs through June 6, 2026. The show features reverse oil paintings on glass derived from vernacular photographs, addressing the instability of images and memory following the loss of a close friend. Lancaster modifies snapshots by cropping, overexposing, and pixelizing—a technique new to her practice—to obscure identifying details, transforming individuals into archetypes. Works like "To Keep the Idiots Away" depict a cropped, shirtless man flipping off the viewer, while "Heart and Brain" shows an entwined couple sharing a bottle, pixelated to degrade documentary reliability. Two self-portraits, "Deep Down Hurt" and "Echoes and References," are the most legible pieces, conveying personal grief. Lancaster paints highlights first, then subject, then background, echoing memory's reverse construction. The exhibition is at 168 Suffolk Street, Ground Floor, New York, NY. The text was contributed by Romy Marcus Cohen, an MA candidate at the School of Visual Arts.