Lorraine O'Grady
1934–2024

Introduction

Lorraine O'Grady (September 21, 1934 – December 13, 2024) was an American artist, writer, translator, and critic. Working in conceptual art and performance art that integrates photo and video installation, she explored the cultural construction of identity – particularly that of Black female subjectivity – as shaped by the experience of diaspora and hybridity. O'Grady studied at Wellesley College and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop before becoming an artist at age forty-five. Regarding the purpose of art, O'Grady said in 2016: "I think art's first goal is to remind us that we are human, whatever that is. I suppose the politics in my art could be to remind us that we are all human."

Wikidata identifier

Q6681667

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Information from Wikipedia, made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License . Accessed January 14, 2025.

Roles

Artist, conceptual artist, performance artist, photographer, video artist

ULAN identifier

500294142

Names

Lorraine O'Grady, Lorraine Eleanor O'Grady

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Information from the Getty Research Institute's Union List of Artist Names ® (ULAN), made available under the ODC Attribution License. Accessed January 14, 2025.

Not on view

First acquired
2019

API
artists/12076




On the Hour

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Maya Man, A Realistic Day In My Life Living In New York City

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