{"data":{"id":"16254","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":16254,"topgoose_id":1557,"tms_id":16254,"display_name":"Suzanne Lacy","sort_name":"Lacy Suzanne","display_date":"1945–","begin_date":"1945","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eSouthern California in the 1970s was home to a strong feminist art movement, with many of the area’s art schools and universities becoming focal points of radical art. Suzanne Lacy first encountered the movement as an activist and psychology student at Fresno State University, where she studied with the feminist artist \u003ca href=\"http://artists/20202\"\u003eJudy Chicago\u003c/a\u003e. She continued working with Chicago at the California Institute of the Arts, where she also studied with \u003ca href=\"/artists/11184\"\u003eAllan Kaprow\u003c/a\u003e and explored the transformative possibilities of performance art. Calling upon viewers to participate in her work, Lacy was a pioneer in what would come to be known as Social Practice art. Her performances, videos, and social interventions addressed a broad spectrum of women’s issues, including rape, poverty, abuse, and class inequality.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/46090\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eLearn Where the Meat Comes From\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e is part of Lacy’s Anatomy Lessons series. The title was taken from a lesson by Julia Child, who explained to her public, “Taking the time to learn where the meat comes from will ensure your constant success.” Lacy follows a narration that she compiled from several sources in addition to Child—among them fitness guru Jack Lalanne—to disturbing extremes. She caresses the meat carcass suggestively, dons prosthetic teeth, and imitates a lamb’s movements, becoming more animal-like as the video progresses.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMeat\u003c/em\u003e had featured in several of Lacy’s earlier works, and her own body was a recurring subject as well: the diagram of cuts of meat in the background of \u003cem\u003eLearn\nWhere the Meat Comes From\u003c/em\u003e recalls the beef kidneys that Lacy nailed to the walls in her 1972 \u003cem\u003eAblutions\u003c/em\u003e performance as well as the legal contract she devised for selling her own body parts in \u003cem\u003eBody Contract\u003c/em\u003e, the inaugural piece in the \u003cem\u003eAnatomy Lessons\u003c/em\u003e series.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":false,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500101539","wikidata_id":"Q7650894","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:30:19.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-28T07:08:49.023-05:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/16254/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/16254/exhibitions"}}}}