Though Lorraine O’Grady began her artistic career later in life, she became one of the most influential conceptual artists of her generation. Through performances, photo-collages, and writing, she challenged ideas of race, class, and gender, most notably in her groundbreaking 1992 essay Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity, which critically examined representations of the Black female body in Western culture.
Kate Guadagnino sits down with O’Grady to learn about her day-to-day as a concept-based artist. She speaks honestly about her process of making art by returning to old projects with fresh eyes, sometimes years later, while also including more personal details like her favorite films and her life at Westbeth. The artist notes that “having come to art later in life, [...] I’m out there to make the best possible work and as close to a masterpiece as I can. [...] What I’m trying to do is get as much of myself expressed as possible because there is so little out there that allows for an understanding of the fullness of the Black mind or soul.”