Lorraine O’Grady, the path-breaking conceptual artist whose work critiqued racism and sexism in the art world, has died at 90 in New York. Known for her conceptually driven practice spanning performance, photography, collage, and text, she challenged binary thinking and centered Black subjectivity. Her influence has only grown in recent years, culminating in the acclaimed retrospective Both/And at the Brooklyn Museum.
Lorraine O’Grady, the conceptual artist and critic known for her incisive explorations of race, gender, and class, has died at 90. Beginning her artistic career in midlife after working as a research economist, she became widely recognized for her diptychs and cultural criticism, as well as her writing for Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. Her profile rose significantly in the past decade, cementing her legacy as a vital and influential voice in contemporary art.
Lorraine O’Grady reflects on a decades-long career challenging racism and exclusion in the art world, as she presents her first museum retrospective at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College. Nearly 50 years into her practice, her recognition marks a long-overdue moment for an artist whose influence has steadily reshaped cultural discourse.
A series of high-profile benefit events brought glamour to New York, including the Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women Dinner, attended by Salma Hayek Pinault and Emma Watson, and the Natural Resources Defense Council comedy benefit honoring Anna Scott Carter. In the arts, Creative Capital hosted its inaugural banquet, while IRL Gallery celebrated its new space in Chinatown.
Jarrett Earnest speaks with Lorraine O’Grady as part of a series of artists who are also writers, for David Zwirner’s podcast. They discuss the artist’s “both/and” approach that is crucial to her retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, and what she learned from her exhibition.