Lorna Simpson

Photo‑based artist and film‑maker Lorna Simpson is considered to be one of the key representatives of African‑American visual culture. Emerging in the 1980s, Simpson was, in 1993, the first African‑American woman ever to show in the Venice Biennale and to have a solo exhibition in the 'Projects' series of The Museum of Modern Art, New York. She is also one of very few African‑American artists ever to have exhibited at Documenta, as she did in both 1987 and 2002. Simpson's well‑known fragmented photographs, combining images with fragments of text, create mysterious and quietly intriguing works that reflect the silence of a portion of society — African‑American women — that is rarely if ever represented in art. She raises profound questions about how we represent, see and communicate with each other and ourselves.