Lorraine O'Grady, The Clearing: or Cortés and La Malinche, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, N. and Me, 1991/2019. Detail. Courtesy of the Lorraine O’Grady Trust and Mariane Ibrahim (Chicago, Paris, Mexico City) © 2025 Lorraine O’Grady/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Lorraine O’Grady, Eminent Collages
In an article written for Libération, Sonya Faure explores the life and work of Lorraine O’Grady, whose first solo exhibition in France is being held at our Parisian space. Known for her powerful performances and photographic collages, O’Grady used art to critique racism, colonial legacies, and the marginalization of Black women in the art world.
Faure highlights O’Grady’s most iconic performance as Mlle Bourgeoise Noire in 1980, where the artist, clad in a dress made of 180 white gloves, disrupted a New York gallery with flowers, a whip, and a shouted poem—condemning both institutional racism in the art world and the complacency of Black artists. Her art consistently challenged binary thinking, embracing complexity through her “both/and” philosophy.
The article also discusses her poignant diptych The Clearing (1991), which examines the trauma of interracial and colonial histories through haunting imagery, as well as her essay Olympia’s Maid, a foundational text in reclaiming Black female subjectivity in art history. O’Grady’s work, long overlooked in France, is now being rediscovered by a younger generation of feminist and postcolonial scholars and curators. Her legacy is celebrated not only through this Paris exhibition but also through recent shows like Joie collective at the Palais de Tokyo, which featured her 1983 performance Art is..., affirming that art belongs to everyone—especially those historically excluded.
