Curated by Rudolf Frieling, Lucía Sanromán, and Dominic Willsdon
In the field of social practice, Suzanne Lacy is a pioneering and deeply respected figure, having worked for nearly five decades to define this mode of production through activism, performance, community outreach, and pedagogy. With fearlessness, urgency, and, at times, humor, she has tackled complex and vital issues, from rape and systems of violence to international borders, environmental sustainability, and women in leadership. Presented jointly at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this retrospective will align Lacy’s important early photos, videos, and performances with her major installations and long-term works, such as The Oakland Projects, 1991–2001. The exhibition’s extensive catalogue—featuring some four hundred archival illustrations alongside key essays by her collaborators and contemporaries—should provide much-needed scholarship on Lacy’s crucial contributions.
