Lorraine O’Grady was a pioneer in a million ways

Ajouté : 2026-06-04

[00:00:00]I have discovered throughout my life that black women don't [ __ ] play and they don't play about [music] their hype.

[00:00:13]I WAS IN PITTSBURGH AT THE CARNEGIE MUSEUM of Art and I walked past these stunning pictures. [music] I became obsessed with Lorraine O'Grady, artist, [music] philosopher, and protest troll. I immediately fell in love with this woman's story and read everything I could about her. She [music] didn't begin her career until she was in her 40s. Her most famous piece was here, a performance piece or as she would poetically describe it, writing in space [music] of a character, Mademoiselle Bourgeois Noire. As this character, she would troll art shows, particularly the art snobbery of her own black artist community. But, I want to talk about a different piece [music] of hers called Art Is. Art Is was a series of photographs of spectators in their everyday clothes at a parade holding up art frames. In these pictures, O'Grady shows that art [music] is sitting on a fold-out chair watching a parade. Art is drinking out of a soda can. Art is hugging your best friend. Art is on your father's shoulders.

[00:01:10]>> [music] >> And it doesn't need to be curated in a museum. O'Grady's performance of Art Is was in the Harlem streets [music] outside of the museum space, a place that often alienates black artists.

[00:01:21]>> [music] >> The intention of the golden frames hypes up the idea that blackness is a legitimate part of our history, even if it's not part of a collection in a gallery. As one participant in the performance exclaimed, "That's right.

[00:01:33]That's what art is, worthy art." On that day in Harlem in 1983, Lorraine hyped up her art spectators and she would do so for the next [music] 41 years. Rest in peace, Lorraine.