News
RecentConstellations (2026 - Present)
Paintings (2025 - Present)
Ceramics (2025 - Present)
Divine Tragedy
Double Entendre
Built By Popular Demand
Design + Constructions
About/CV
News
RecentConstellations (2026 - Present)
Paintings (2025 - Present)
Ceramics (2025 - Present)
Divine Tragedy
Double Entendre
Built By Popular Demand
Design + Constructions
About/CV
Capricorn ☼ - Scorpio ☾ - Scorpio ↑
Jake Lahah is an artist, educator, and designer that interrogates topics on labor, queerness, human ecology, and their intersections. His work explores it through printmaking, craft, design, and queer studies discourse. The foundation of his work champions printmaking as a collaboration with materiality, and that unpacking the image-to-substract relationship opens new poetic ways of exploring the human condition.
Lahah’s work has been included in exhibitions at: ICA Baltimore, Baltimore, MD; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA; Bond Millen Gallery, Richmond, VA; ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA; Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH; and Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA. He received his BFA from George Mason University (2017) and an MFA in Print from Tyler School of Art + Architecture at Temple University (2024) where he was a Project Completion Grant fellow. Lahah is a recent Gay Cultural Studies Creative Research Grant recipient via Old Dominion University, where he is currently an Assistant Adjunct Professor within the Foundations and Drawing/Painting Department at Old Dominion University.
Artist Statement:
My work visualizes the poetics of queer experience using historic LGBTQ+ papers, ephemera, and graphics as inspirational threads and source materials. I am an amateur historian, and primarily do research in archival materials related to gay histories, labor, culture, and health. I’m inspired by the legacy of labor unions, historic community aid networks, and regional newspapers dedicated to folks in the south. I respond to the intersections, tangental lines, and frequency patterns within and across my sources. This allows me to organize my art practice into distinct projects and conceptual threads.
With data visualization as a lens in my practice, I use printmaking, fiber, and craft studies to think through my research and source content. My work becomes a wayfinding tool for identifying the gaps in text and visual data. I disrupt our assumptions on what we know about queer histories and their impact by aggregating my findings, bringing forth the hidden underbelly in poetic and nuanced ways. My hope is that my works becomes a space for viewers to meditate and reflect on queer histories. I aim to create space for curious readings, open ended questioning, and to foster shifting perspectives on historical media and archives.
Select CV
Jake Lahah
jakelahah.com
jakelahah@gmail.com
Born 1994, Wildwood, NJ
Lives in Richmond, VA
Education
2024 MFA Printmaking, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University
2017 BFA Printmaking, George Mason University
Solo Exhibitions
2025
2024
2024
2021
2017
Double Entendre, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington, D.C.
Built by Popular Demand, Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Scarring the Earth with Desire, Skylab Gallery, Columbus, OH
Views Through the Fishtank at Babes, Slug @ Attic 506, Chapel Hill, NC
Process // Performance, McGuire Gallery + Art Lab at The Lorton Workhouse Art Center, Lorton, VA
Select Group Exhibitions
2026
2026
2026
2026
2026
2025
2025
2025
2025
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2024
2023
2023
2023
2023
2023
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2020
2019
2018
2018
2018
2018
2018
2018
2018
2017
2017
2017
2016
2015
Cabin Fever, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, VA
Residing Between, True F. Luck Gallery, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA
Collector’s Night, True F. Luck Gallery, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA
Annotated Forms, Craft Alliance, St. Louis, MO
Hot Pink, Second Street Gallery, Charlottesville, VA
Hibernation, Incubation, Innovation, Gordon Galleries, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
Tactical Communications - Comunicación Táctica, Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Diseño, San Juan, Puerto Rico
22Candles!, ADA Gallery, Richmond, VA
Unboxed: Rethinking the Grid, Carolla Arts Exhibition Center, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO
Spectrum, Todd Art Gallery, Middle State Tennessee University, Murfreesboro, TN
Expanded Methodologies in Printmaking, West Chester University, West Chester, PA
Up and Up, Promontory Point, Chicago, IL
How long does it take for a peacock to die?, Atelier FAS, Philadelphia, PA
Echo-System, Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Emerge, Page Bond Gallery, Richmond, VA
Vox Populi XIX, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
dis(place)ment, Second State Press, Philadelphia, PA
Metal Party, Studio Two Three, Richmond, VA
Vibrant Matters: Works from Wood, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA
2nd Art Student Biennial, The William Way LGBT Community Center, Philadelphia, PA
Message Received, Temple Contemporary, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
Help Yourself, Partner + Sons, Philadelphia, PA
Dreamtopia, Stella Elkins Gallery, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Philadelphia, PA
Interchange, Second State Press, Philadelphia, PA
Queer Futurity and Printmaking, SGCI at UW Madison, Madison, WI
The Cake Stand Biennial, Fayetteville, AR
The Extended Ear Artbook Fair and Exhibition, Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR
WPA Collectors Night, Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC
Candela Unbound 11, Candela Gallery and Books, Richmond, VA
Smart Objects / Flattened Objects, Well Well Projects, Portland, OR
sounds about riso 4.0, Lucky Risograph @ USAGI, New York, NY
Saloon Two Three, Studio Two Three, Richmond, VA
Finding and Feeling: Encounters in the Archive, Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
ICA Baltimore 2022 Flatfile Exhibition, ICA Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
Print Shop of Horrors, Studio Two Three Auction, Richmond, VA
UnEdition, Manhattan Graphics Center, New York, NY
Those Spaces Between Us, Torpedo Factory Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
Ink It: Contemporary Print Practices, BlackRock Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Photography Is Dead, Long Live Photography, Candela Gallery and Books, Richmond, VA
The Future is Queer, Remote Contact Symposium, Knoxville, TN
Artist Proof, Studio Two Three Auction, Richmond, VA
LTD, Endeavor RVA, Richmond, VA
Monochromatic Print Exchange + Exhibition, Studio Two Three, Richmond, VA
Extra, Millennial Art Exhibition, Gallery130 @ Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC
Too Much of Too Much, McLean Project for the Arts, Mclean, VA
Studio Two Three Member Show, Artspace, Richmond, VA
Me You & a Few of Our Friends, Anne Wright Wilson Gallery, Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY
Call and Response: Borders, George Mason University, Fenwick Gallery, Fairfax, VA
Studio Two Three Group Show, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, VA
Ipseity, Torpedo Factory Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA
TEN09/All We Had Time For, McGuire Gallery + Art Lab at The Lorton Workhouse Art Center, Lorton, VA
Senior Art & Design Showcase, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Locale, Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Artists’ Map, Fenwick Gallery, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Residencies
2026
2024
2018-2022
2016
Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Studio Access Resident, Richmond, VA
Zygote Press, Cleveland, OH
Studio Two Three, Resident Artist, Richmond, VA
Backspace Fellowship, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Grants, Awards, and Accolades
2024
2024
2024
2023
2023
2022 - 2023
2021
Trawick Prize - Semifinalist, Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards
Project Completion Grant and Fellow, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University
Dean’s Grant for Academic Research, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University
Dean’s Grant for Academic Research, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University
Partner Scholarship Award for Academic Research, Urban Glass
Graduate Academic Scholarship/Assistantship, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Temple University
Ink It: Contemporary Print Practices - Honorable Mention Award, Blackrock Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Artist Book and Zine Fairs
2019
2018
2018
2018
2018
2017
2017
2017
2017
2016
Richmond Zine Fest, Richmond Public Library, Richmond, VA
Current Books: Presented by Current Art Fair, Studio Two Three, Richmond, VA
Pyramid Atlantic Radical Formats Book Arts Fair, Hyattsville, MD
Asheville Zine Fest, Center of Craft and Design, Asheville, NC
Richmond Zine Fest, Richmond Public Library, Richmond, VA
Publications and Multiples Festival VII, Open Space, Baltimore, MD
Philly Art Book Fair, Presented by: Philadelphia Photo Arts Center & The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA
MOCA Bound: Art Book and Zine Fair, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
DC Art Book Fair #2, National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
DC Art Book Fair #1, Lab 1270, Washington, D.C
Collections
Capital One Art Reserve, Richmond, VA
Charles Library Special Collections, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
Children's Hospital of The King's Daughter, Norfolk, VA
Denver University Special Collections, Denver, CO
Fenwick Library Special Collections, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Georgetown College, Georgetown, KY
Highpoint Center for Printmaking Library, Minneapolis, MN
Mid-America Print Council Archives
Queer.Archive.Works, Providence, RI
Richmond Public Library, Richmond, VA
Southern Graphics Council International Archives, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
University of Wyoming Art Museum Permanent Collection
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Library, Richmond, VA
Various private collections
Public Lectures and Presentations
2025
2024
2023
2021
2018
IA&A at Hillyer, Exhibition Talk, Washington, D.C.
Denison University, Visiting Critic & Lecture, Granville, OH
Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Artist Talk, Philadelphia PA
Flint Hill School, Visiting Artist Lecture, Oakton, VA
Call and Response: Borders, Panelist, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA
Publications, Essays, Catalogs
2025
2025
2024
2024
2024
2022
2021
2016
Intersections, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, Exhibition Catalog
2025 ODU Art Department Faculty Exhibition - Hibernation Incubation Innovation, Published on Issuu, Online Catalog
Spectrum, MTSU Printmaking, Exhibition Catalog
The Hand Magazine, Issue 45, Publication
Emerge, Bond Millen Gallery, Exhibition Catalog
Unbound 11, Candela Gallery and Books, Exhibition Catalog
Photography is Dead, Long Live Photography, Exhibition Catalog
Locale, Fenwick Gallery, Exhibition Catalog
Press, Writing, Interviews
2025
2025
2025
2025
2024
2023
2021
2021
2021
2018
2017
Current Studio Access Residents, Visual Arts Center of Richmond, n.d. Web post.
Interview with Jake Lahah, IA&A at Hillyer’s Video Platform, Published, 5 August 2025
DC Arts Weekly, 7-27 - 8/2, Substack Posting, 25 July 2025
GMU School of Art, Meet Our Alumni, n.d. Web Posting
Tysons Today, Fall/Winter Exhibitions Debut at McLean Project for the Arts, Vibrant Matters Work from Wood, Tysons Today, 9 November 2024. Web.
Herebin, Emily. Printmaking Graduate Exhibition on Display at Partner and Sons, Tyler School of Art + Architecture, 22 June 2023. Web.
Cole, Whitney. Artist Breakdown Part V. Photography is Dead, Love Live Photography, Candela Gallery and Books Blog, 10 February 2021. Web.
Jenkins, Mark. In the galleries: Artists examine the divide between people and their surroundings, Washington Post, 14 May 2021. Web.
Jake Lahah - Artist Profile, The Future is Queer, n.d. Profile and Post
East City Art Editorial Team, McLean Project for the Arts Presents: Too Much of Too Much: Overstimulated, Overexposed, and Overextended, 18 August 2018. Web.
East City Art Editorial Team, Target Gallery Presents Ipseity, 5 March 2017. Web.