Lonnie Holley

Since 1979, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music are born out of struggle and hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of a furious curiosity and biological necessity. That drive manifests in drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, performance, music, and filmmaking.

His art has been featured in exhibitions and publications throughout the world, and is in the collections of major museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The High Museum of Art; The Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Smithsonian American Art Museum; The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; The Tate Modern, and many others.

Holley has released seven critically acclaimed albums––Just Before Music, 2012; Keeping a Record of It, 2013; MITH, 2018; National Freedom, 2020; Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection (with Matthew E. White), 2021; Oh Me Oh My, produced by JacknifeLee, which includes collaborations with Bon Iver, Michael Stipe (REM), Moor Mother, Sharon Van Etten, and Rokia Koné; and Tonky, dropping in March of 2025. His albums have been named in the top albums of the year by The Washington Post, Newsweek, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, among many other publications. MITH was named one of the best albums of the decade by The New Yorker.

Lonnie has toured extensively throughout the United States and the Americas, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, sharing stages with Bon Iver, Animal Collective, Deerhunter, Bill Callahan, Tinariwen, Daniel Lanois, and others. He has experimented with film, photography, and video throughout his career. His directorial debut, the narrative short I Snuck Off the Slave Ship, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The multiple award-winning 2023 podcast, Unreformed: The Story of the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, follows the history of the infamous reform school in Alabama (which witnesses refer to as a “slave camp for children”). It profiles Holley’s early life and the cruelty he and thousands of others suffered at the hands of the state of Alabama. It was a finalist for the Peabody Award.

The much-anticipated Lonnie Holley: Sculptures, Paintings, Sandstones, Film, Works on Paper & Music, published by Rizzoli Electa and BLUM Books in March 2025, is the first book that explores the many facets of Holley’s artistic creativity. He is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a USA Artist Fellowship in 2022 and the Skowhegan Medal for Visual Arts & Music in 2023.He continues to make art, music, and as he puts it, “thoughtsmith,” from his home and studio in Atlanta, Georgia and around the world.