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Maker(s):O'Grady, Lorraine
Culture:American (1934- )
Title:Art Is...(Dancer in Grass Skirt)
Date Made:1983 capture; 2009 print
Type:Photograph
Materials:Chromogenic print
Place Made:North America; United States; New York State; New York City
Measurements:Mat: 20 in x 24 in; 50.8 cm x 61 cm; Sheet: 16 in x 20 1/16 in; 40.6 cm x 51 cm; Image: 14 3/8 in x 19 3/8 in; 36.5 cm x 49.2 cm
Accession Number:  MH 2018.4.1
Credit Line:Purchase with the Henry Rox Memorial Fund for the Acquisition of Works by Contemporary Women Artists
Museum Collection:  Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
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Label Text:
In September 1983 conceptual artist Lorraine O’Grady performed her acclaimed piece, Art Is . . ., enlisting 15 young actors and dancers to literally “frame” viewers with ornate gold frames to shouts of “Frame me, make me art!” and “That’s right, that’s what art is, WE’RE the art!” Art Is. . . was conceived by O’Grady as a response to a friend who said “Avant-garde art doesn’t have anything to do with black people.” O’Grady’s response was to put avant-garde art into the largest black space she could think of — the Harlem African American Day Parade. These two photographs are from a series of 40 taken during the performance in 1983 and printed in 2009.
– Relyn Myrthil ’19, Emilee Aguerrebere ’20, and Mac Chambers ‘19

These two works were selected by Mount Holyoke College students through Our Museum, 'Our Voices: Art Acquisition Initiative'. The Museum would like to thank Emilee Aguerrebere ’20, Mac Chambers ’19, Juliana Cordero ’18, Simi Esan ’18, Tori Gernert-Dott ’20, Rachel Kim ’21, Molly Libbey ’18, Serena McDonald-Newman ’20, and Relyn Myrthil ’19 for their important role in bringing these works to MHCAM.

Tags:
festivals; celebrations; dance; dancers; African American

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+2018.4.1

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

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