Suzanne Lacy: We Are Here

Over more than four decades the genre-defying art of Suzanne Lacy (b. 1945) has taken multiple forms, spanning performance, sculpture and video installations, and photography. Organizing public encounters that emphasize intensive community dialogue and collaborative choreography, Lacy has explored many political and social contexts that remain deeply relevant—including race, class, and gender equity; ageism; and violence against women. This engaging and immersive record of Lacy’s career is anchored by an extensively illustrated survey of selected works, loosely arranged chronologically in chapters that group related projects and illuminate their core themes and approaches. Featuring photographs, stills, ephemera, and other primary documentation, this section incorporates a selection of reprinted texts and first-person accounts by Lacy’s collaborators. A series of essays examine Lacy’s use of narrative and dialogue, explore the aesthetic language and use of form in her projects, and consider the questions posed by rethinkings of her work. Extensive, penetrating, and visually compelling, this long-awaited monograph documents the bold career of an artist whose profound attentiveness to social dynamics, politics, and context continues to provoke and inspire today.