50 Artists: Indira Allegra on Martin Puryear

The thousands of artworks at SFMOMA offer countless opportunities to look closely and think deeply about some of the most amazing artists of our time. To celebrate both the artists on view in the newly expanded museum and the creative communities of the Bay Area, 50 Artists invites local artists and creative professionals to share how icons of modern and contemporary art matter to them. This week, Indira Allegra explores the abstract sculptural work of Martin Puryear.

Allegra is an artist who explores practices of documentation through lyric essays and textile performances. She is a recipient of the Oakland Individual Artist (2015) and Queer Cultural Center (2014) grants and has been honored with the Jackson Literary Award (2014), Lambda Literary Fellowship (2012), and Windgate Craft Fellowship (2015). Allegra’s commissions include works for the de Young Museum, SFJAZZ Poetry Festival, the City of Oakland, and the National Queer Arts Festival. Her time-based works have screened at festivals across the world and her writing has been widely anthologized. Allegra lives and works in Oakland.