{"data":{"id":"3594","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":3594,"topgoose_id":1629,"tms_id":3594,"display_name":"Zoe Leonard","sort_name":"Leonard Zoe","display_date":"1961–","begin_date":"1961","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eZoe Leonard’s work has ranged from\nexplorations of the natural landscape and\nthe urban environment to issues of gender\nand the global circulation of goods. Whether\nin her early aerial photographs of cities,\nher observations of trees, a survey of New\nYork storefronts, or recent images of the\nsun, Leonard has tended to amass multiple\npictures into works as she investigates\nthe relationship between the photograph\nand the natural or constructed world.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nSuch an archival impulse is reflected\nin \u003ca href=\"/collection/works/11353\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Fae Richards Photo Archive\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, a group of eighty-two photographs Leonard\nmade in collaboration with the filmmaker\nCheryl Dunye for the latter’s 1996 film\u003cem\u003e\nWatermelon Woman\u003c/em\u003e. The film’s protagonist\nencounters the fictional character of\nRichards in an old film and is driven\nto research the African American lesbian\nactress’s life and career. For the \u003cem\u003eArchive\u003c/em\u003e,\nLeonard hired actors to play Richards\nand her costars, lovers, family, and\nacquaintances in staged photographs\nthat drew upon Dunye’s family photographs\nas well as existing images of black\nperformers of the era. Leonard printed\neach image using historically appropriate\nprocesses, lending visual authenticity\nto the archive, and added detailed,\ntypewritten captions for each. The narrative\ntracks the imaginary Richards’s life as\na teenager and then as a Hollywood\nscreen star, through the civil rights era,\nwhen her film career was obstructed\nby racism, and finally to her old age as a\nforgotten figure. Fae Richards had to\nbe constructed because, as Leonard said,\n“certain histories are so vastly, wildly,\ncrazily underrepresented” that even if she\nhad lived “we probably wouldn’t have\nknown about her.”\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500114723","wikidata_id":"Q218207","created_at":"2017-08-30T16:32:11.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-04-11T07:04:03.010-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/3594/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/3594/exhibitions"}}}}