H. Leslie Foster II

Leslie Foster (he/they) is an artist based in Los Angeles (occupied Gabrielino-Tongva land) whose work folds experimental film into multi-sensory installations to create pocket universes. His love for storytelling is inspired by a childhood spent in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Berrien Springs, Michigan. Leslie uses video art and installation to create beautifully strange contemplative ecologies that explore Black and queer futurity through the lens of dream logic. Much of their practice is rooted in community-building through art-making and collaboration.

Leslie completed his MFA in Design | Media Arts at UCLA in 2022 and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2022. Their work, which was shortlisted for the Hopper Prize in 2020, and awarded the LACE Lightning Fund in 2023, has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including two exhibitions at the Torrance Art Museum, a show at the Craft Contemporary Museum in Los Angeles, an upcoming show with LA Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), and two solo shows. His work has also been exhibited at film and video art festivals around the world, including Outfest, where his four-channel installation Heavenly Brown Body, won a Grand Jury Prize. Leslie is a Lucas Art Residency Fellow at the Montalvo Art Center in Saratoga, CA, recently completed a residency at Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, and currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Time-based Media at Cal State San Marcos. He regularly daydreams about running away with a seafaring band of nomadic artists.