For the inaugural spring presentation of The Windows, we are honored to feature two works on paper by American artist Lesley Dill, whose practice weaves together poetry, politics, and history through a deeply layered visual language. Framed by the socio-political climate of the United States today, Dill’s selected works serve as pointed meditations—subtle yet potent—on justice, race, and the enduring legacy of American history.

One drawing centers on Dred Scott, the central figure in the infamous 1857 Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sandford. In this landmark decision, the court denied citizenship to Scott and all people of African descent, further entrenching the institution of slavery. Dill’s drawing does not illustrate the case literally; rather, it channels its historical resonance through fragments of language, gesture, and presence. The drawing reflects the gravity of a pivotal moment in U.S. legal history—one that exposed the limitations of justice in its time and whose echoes are still felt today. In our current context, where conversations around equity, citizenship, and civil rights continue to evolve, the work stands as a quiet yet firm appeal for remembrance, critical reflection, and ethical awareness.

The second work honors Horace Pippin, a self-taught painter, World War I veteran, and a chronicler of African American experience. Dill represents Pippin not only as an individual but as part of a collective lineage—"Horace Pippin and Friends"—highlighting the shared labor of witnessing, creating, and enduring. Through her ethereal yet grounded forms, Dill situates Pippin among the many who used their voices and visions to confront injustice and reimagine freedom.

Together, these two works form a compelling pairing. They do not shout, but neither are they silent. In the space of The Windows,  Dill’s drawings function as illuminated manuscripts—open invitations to read, to remember, and to reckon with the past in the light of the present.

Lesley Dill is an American artist working at the intersection of language and fine art. Exploring the power of words to cloak and reveal the psyche, Dill invests new meaning in the human form. Fluid metaphors, appropriated from the poetry and writings of Emily Dickinson, Salvador Espriu, Tom Sleigh, Franz Kafka, and Rainer Maria Rilke, connect the diverse media that Dill employs. Paper, wire, horsehair, photography, foil, bronze, and music comprise elements through which the artist conveys the complexities of communication. Dill challenges the viewer to confront our linguistic relationships as well as perceptions of language itself. 

Her works is in over 60 museum collections and is permanently included in major exhibitions throughout the United States and abroad.