Writing in Space, 1973-2019 - Hardcover

by Lorraine O'Grady (Author), Aruna D'Souza (Editor)

Writing in Space, 1973-2019 gathers the writings of conceptual artist Lorraine O'Grady, who for over forty years has investigated the complicated relationship between text and image. A firsthand account of O'Grady's wide-ranging practice, this volume contains statements, scripts, and previously unpublished notes charting the development of her performance work and conceptual photography; her art and music criticism that appeared in the Village Voice and Artforum; critical and theoretical essays on art and culture, including her classic "Olympia's Maid"; and interviews in which O'Grady maps, expands, and complicates the intellectual terrain of her work. She examines issues ranging from black female subjectivity to diaspora and race and representation in contemporary art, exploring both their personal and their institutional implications. O'Grady's writings--introduced in this collection by critic and curator Aruna D'Souza--offer a unique window into her artistic and intellectual evolution while consistently plumbing the political possibilities of art.

Author Biography

Lorraine O'Grady is an artist whose work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, and the Palais de Tokyo. Her art can be seen in numerous public collections throughout the United States and Europe. A major retrospective of her work, Both/And, opens at the Brooklyn Museum in November 2020.

Aruna D'Souza is an art critic, curator, and author, most recently of Whitewalling: Art, Race, and Protest in 3 Acts.