Lorna Simpson

Lorna Simpson is best known for her provocative photographs that address many issues including racial and sexual identity among other issues. Lorna acknowledges that the feminist movement of the 70’s had a great influence on her work. Her early photographs were of African American female models. They were dressed in simple attire and were mainly photographed from partial view or from behind. She would use anonymous subjects and text that had cultural, social, and metaphoric meaning. She hoped that each viewer would interpret the meaning based on their personal life experiences. Lorna focused a great deal on the beauty of African American females.

She began her career as a documentary photographer but soon began investigating the role of the viewer. In the 1980’s she started creating compositions using black-and-white images with short texts.

MoreIn the 90s, she began creating works with photographic imagery and text printed on dense felt. Her multipart portfolio “Wigs” was made by transferring twenty-one photographic images to felt panels using waterless lithography. This was a period when Simpson was interested in eliminating the figure and using objects that referred to the body instead of using the body itself.

Wigs presented a collection of hairstyles in different lengths, shapes, and textures that connected different races, genders, and ages, while using the wig as an object so to speak. The images are paired with texts, such as “the wig produced the desired effect” and “first impressions are the most lasting,” that point to the unstable nature of social identities and bring question to the cultural assumptions that are often associated with appearance.

In the late 90’s she began to explore narrative film. Her lush black-and-white films are often created as dual or multiple projections that are meant to be viewed in a dark room with a gallery context. Just as her photographs, her films also are images and dialogue with open interpretations. They have...