Abigail B. Lind reports in the Harvard Crimson that, on Thursday, Catherine B. Lord—a visual artist, curator, and writer focusing on queer theory, feminist history, and colonialism—will receive the Spring 2010 Harvard Arts Medal.
Within a matter of days she will publish an article arguing that Valerie Solanas, better known as the woman who tried to assassinate Andy Warhol in 1968, should be taken more seriously as a voice in the feminist movement. The controversial piece is characteristic of Lord’s style, writes Lind.
Born in the present-day Dominican Republic to multicultural parents, Lord has traveled between the country’s universities and foundations for the past forty years, accumulating fellowships and professorships almost continuously—including one from the Andy Warhol Foundation. Her visual art has been shown at various venues, including the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center; her writings have been published in numerous artistic journals. Currently she holds a position as a professor of Studio Art and Women’s Studies at the University of California, Irvine.
“I love the way she approaches art,” said Helen Molesworth, the chief curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art and a member of the selection panel for the Arts Medal this spring. “She does so from the position of someone who makes art herself, from the position of someone deeply immersed in the history of ideas or the history of theory, and she is also an extraordinary writer. She has a beautiful facility with language, and she has a way of writing that comes from a deeply personal place that never feels diaristic or narcissistic.”
Posted By: October Gallery
Wednesday, April 28th 2010 at 5:47AM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
