Monday, March 29, 2010

Suzanne Lacy, Performance Art With Activism

Suzanne Lacy Feminist Activism
Suzanne Lacy’s art includes installations, large-scale performances and video, which focus on social topics and urban issues. She is an internationally know artist, writer, educator and a former mayor of Oakland, California who went on to become an arts commissioner for the city.

“Three Weeks in May” is a 1977 Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz collaboration, which combined performance art with activism. This performance piece coincided with self-defense classes on the steps of the Los Angeles City Hall to highlight sexual violence committed against women. 

“The Crystal Quilt”, a well know performance piece staged by Ms. Lacy in 1987 on Mother’s Day in Minneapolis, Minnesota that featured 430 women who were over 60 years young. The scheme behind this performance was to depict the cultural invisibility of older women through art in action.  This live performance reframed preconceptions of older women’s beauty, power and relevance. This great piece of performance art provides a glimpse of life patterns and values our generation has lost.

Ms. Lacy has written a number of articles about performance art for a variety of publications. She authored and edited “Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art”.

To know more about Suzanne Lacy click on the image: 

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