Soul of a Nation

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New York Times, 2021

Lorraine O’Grady, Still Cutting Into the Culture—Forty years after O’Grady debuted Mlle Bourgeoise Noire, declaring that Black art to take more risks, O’Grady receives her first retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum which features the launch of a new persona. In this profile, Siddhartha Mitter showcases how O’Grady has continuously pursued new ventures, pushing culture forward in her quests of discovery.

Catherine Morris Rivers First Draft the Caribbean Soul of a Nation diptych Cutting Out The New York Times We Wanted A Revolution Mlle Bourgeoise Noire Egypt criticism Art Is... Jamaica Devonia/Nefertiti Miscegenated Family album both/and Stange Taxi writing in space Brooklyn Museum black female subjectivity The Clearing Announcement of a New Persona (Performances to Come!) Olympia's Maid Cutting Out CONYT hybridity Boston Aruna d’Souza Just Above Midtown New Museum Simone Leigh black avant-garde Linda Goode Bryant

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New York Times, 2020

Zachary Small reports on President Biden’s homage to “Art Is…” in his 2020 presidential campaign advertisement. The article places O’Grady amongst other artists similarly addressing the political climate of 2020. While Alexander Gray warns that “a piece like this is so easy for advertisers to appropriate,” the article makes clear that O’Grady gave her blessing on the campaign’s concept. “Biden is saying the same thing to the country that I was saying to the art world.”

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Media Diversified, 2017

Tonya Nelson traces histories of political protests and activism from the civil rights movement to the more contemporary Black Lives Matter movement – problematizing the roots of Western individualism at large. Her critique reveals itself through her analyses of works by Lorraine O’Grady, Maren Hassinger, and Linda Goode-Bryant, all featured in the group exhibitions Soul of a Nation and We Wanted A Revolution.

Linda Goode Bryant Adrian Piper 2017 hybridity black women artists Just Above Midtown black writers political art Soul of a Nation Mlle Bourgeoise Noire We Wanted A Revolution Art Is... Black Lives Matter The Fir-Palm Maren Hassinger The Clearing Landscape (Western Hemisphere)

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The Guardian, 2017

In a review of Soul of a Nation, Steven Thrasher praises O’Grady for “putting Harlem into focus,” suggesting that art can happen on the street – outside of the confines of the museum – embodied through her 1983 performance work “Art Is…”

Crystal Bridges black writers performance race and class feminism Brooklyn Museum Soul of a Nation Tate Modern black avant-garde intersectionality political art Black Lives Matter Art Is... 1960s Olympia's Maid Black Power 2017 Black Panthers black women artists

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