Comprehensive monograph of the Californian artist and political activist.
This book covers Suzanne Lacy's whole career, presenting a selection of her major projects: from the pioneering Prostitution Notes (1974), an artwork that combines conceptual and performance art with social commitment focused on the theme of prostitution exploitation in some areas of Los Angeles, to Crystal Quilt (1985-1987), probably Lacy's most famous work, a huge performance which involved 430 women over 60 seated at tables arranged in the pattern of a large quilt created by Miriam Shapiro, mingling their memories with sociological analyses of society's failure to exploit the potential of old age, to Storing Rape (2012), a discussion among important media personalities, activists and politicians in the attempt to find a different way of describing sexual violence.
Published on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition (Suzanne Lacy's first major European exhibition) at Museo Pecci Milano, in 2014-2015.
Recognized as a pioneer in public space and socially engaged
performance art, Suzanne Lacy (born 1945 in Wasco, USA, lives and works in Los Angeles) is a visual artist whose prolific career includes performances, video and photographic installation, critical writing and public practices in communities. She is best known as one of the
Los Angeles performance artists who began active in the Seventies. Her installations, videos and performances address sexual violence, rural and urban poverty, incarceration, labor and ageing, ranging from intimate, graphic body explorations to public performances involving literally hundreds of performers and thousands of audience members. These large-scale projects span the globe, including England, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain, Ireland and the United States. Lacy has published over 70 texts of critical commentary, and has exhibited in The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, The New Museum and P.S. 1 in New York, and The Bilbao Museum in Spain. She has also taught and designed numerous educational programs, beginning with her role as performance instructor at the Feminist Studio Workshop at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles.
