Phaze 2 Gallery

Through painting, Waymond Harrison brings together personal experience, history, popular culture, and symbolism to challenge conventional ideas of heroism. Drawing on the visual language of superheroes, saints, icons, mirrors, and other familiar symbols, Harrison centers real individuals whose courage, creativity, sacrifice, and resistance have shaped history. His Real Life Superheroes series replaces fictional heroes with figures such as Frederick Douglass, Shirley Chisholm, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Muhammad Ali, asking viewers to reconsider who is remembered, celebrated, and deserving of the title “hero.”

Harrison’s work is also deeply personal. Having discovered painting while serving a 36-year prison sentence, he came to understand art as a means of reflection, transformation, and freedom beyond physical boundaries. His paintings explore mortality, ambition, resilience, and the limited time we have to become who we are capable of becoming.

Ultimately, Harrison turns the question of heroism toward the viewer. Through the recurring image of the mirror, he suggests that greatness is not reserved for historical figures, celebrities, or fictional characters—the hero may also be the person looking back. The exhibition asks us not only to remember those who came before us, but also to consider our own capacity to shape our lives, our communities, and the histories still being written.

Join us for the closing reception of Waymond Harrison’s exhibition on Tuesday, November 3, from 4–6 PM.