Lola Flash[1] (born 1959)[2] is an American photographer whose work has often focused on social, LGBT and feminist issues.
[2][3] An active participant in ACT UP during the time of the AIDS epidemic in New York City, Flash was notably featured in the 1989 "Kissing Doesn't Kill" poster.
[1][3] Her great-grandfather, Charles H. Bullock, as well as her great-grandmother, taught at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.
[7] After attending the Maryland Institute College of Art, Flash used negatives and inverted color schemes in her photography.
In 1989, Flash and Julie Tolentino appeared with several other couples in Gran Fury's ""Kissing Doesn't Kill" PSA poster.
This poster, which appeared on billboards, buses, and subway platforms in many cities, used the style of Benetton's United Colors campaign to call out bigotry and complacency regarding HIV/AIDS.
[16] Flash's newer work has focused on issues such as how skin color impacts black identity and gender fluidity.
[7] In a recent project "SALT," Lola Flash focuses on women over the age of seventy who remain active in their field.
[17][18][19][20] Flash's photography is featured in the 2009 book Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present.