Joy Gregory: Catching Flies with Honey

“Catching Flies with Honey” explores the nuanced interplay of identity, beauty, race, and history through Joy Gregory’s wide-ranging artistry—from silver-gelatin self-portraits of the late 1980s to cyanotypes, textile installations, film works and new commissions. The title references a proverb Gregory’s mother taught her: “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar,” signalling her strategy of using visual seduction to engage with difficult subjects. The show moves through key series including Autoportrait (1989-90), Objects of Beauty (1992-95), Girl Thing (2002-04), The Blonde (1997-2010) and Seeds of Empire (2021), among others. It captures her experimental use of Victorian photographic processes, the politics of femininity and diaspora, and her persistent challenge to conventional narratives of beauty and belonging.