Lorraine O'Grady

Lorraine O’Grady is an American artist and scholar born in 1934. She is known for her pioneering role in the Black artistic Renaissance movement, as well as for her pioneering use of video installation and performance/happening. After studying economics at Harvard, O’Grady worked as a journalist, eventually specializing in the arts. In 1980, she created the performance art piece “Mlle Bourgeoise Noire” (Miss Black Middle Class) in which she donned a wedding dress and angel wings while walking through the streets of New York, carrying a sign that read “Art Is Not luxury”. This performance was a powerful statement about the lack of recognition of Black art in the art world. O’Grady has continued to explore themes of identity, race, and feminism in her work, often through the medium of conceptual art. She has had numerous exhibitions, including at The New Museum, The Studio Museum of Harlem, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.