Lorraine O’Grady, “Miscegenated Family Album (Sisters IV), L: Devonia's sister, Lorraine; R: Nefertiti's sister, Mutnedjmet,” 1980/1994. Courtesy of the Lorraine O’Grady Trust and Mariane Ibrahim (Chicago, Paris, Mexico City) ©️ 2025 Lorraine O’Grady/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York
Opening September 19, 2025, at the Georgetown University Art Galleries, Lorraine O’Grady: Miscegenated Family Album runs through December 7. Guest curated by Donna Honarpisheh, Associate Curator at ICA Miami, the exhibition will be featured in the Lucille M. & Richard F.X. Spagnuolo Art Gallery.
In “Miscegenated Family Album”, O’Grady juxtaposes photographs of ancient Egyptian queen Nefertiti with images of her older sister, Devonia Evangeline O’Grady Allen, and members of their respective families. The diptychs that belong to this series were selected from a 1980 performance by O’Grady in which 65 image pairs were projected behind the artist’s live action. These works draw striking parallels between the two women—their husbands and children, mixed-race backgrounds, and the estranged relationships with their sisters.
Born in 1934 in Boston to Jamaican parents, O’Grady has been a defining voice in conceptual art since the late 1970s, using performance, photography, and text to interrogate race, gender, and cultural history. Her work has been widely exhibited, including most recently at the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Modern Art.
August 27, 2025
