About

I cannot talk about the place I came from
I do not want it to exist
The way I knew it
In the language of my captor
– Shane McCrae

On view at Elizabeth Houston Gallery from February 24 through April 24, 2021, Gary Burnley’s eponymous series In the Language of My Captor recasts the venerable tradition of 18th- and 19th-century European portraiture, carving out a space for alternate narratives whose central figures were not afforded the commensurate stature of the grand manner of painting.

The discipline of portraiture has historically been a grasping at social status and economic power, giving …