Imar Lyman [Hutchins] is an artist by birthright who has spent a lifetime collecting his inheritance. By amassing a museum-worthy collection of historic reference documents and tracing family histories towards their origins, he has equipped himself for the self-assigned task to pass learned wisdom along to future generations.

An autodidact artist based in Washington, DC, Imar has fused his prolific printmaking practice with his signature work as a collagist, imprinting stories recorded in his archives onto the surfaces of his mixed media portraiture.

Imar’s recent solo exhibitions include: Zero Dollar Bill: The Prints of Imar Lyman, curated by Lauren Davidson and Jarvis DuBois, presented by Millennium Arts Salon at International Arts & Artists at Hillyer (Washington, DC); and Inheritance, curated by Zoma Wallace, presented at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (Hyattsville, MD) and the Muhammad Ali Center (Louisville, KY).

Other recent notable projects include: Completion of a portrait of the late David C. Driskell, at the invitation of the Driskell Center (University of Maryland), for their permanent collection; and The Resilient Spirit Tour and Art Unveiling—a project Imar helped organize to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Windrush (West Indian immigrants to the UK who came beginning in 1948) presented at the University of Birmingham (England, UK).

Imar imagines that people themselves are “collages”—amalgams of countless disparate fragments and inputs. He “remixes” his subjects in new and often Afro-futuristic ways, but always drawing from (or challenging) a historical notion. His work can be found in notable public and private collections.