Simone Leigh was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1967 and currently lives in Brooklyn, NY. In 1990, Leigh received her BA in art and philosophy from Earlham College in Indiana. She originally trained as a ceramicist but much of her work now includes performances, as well as sound and video installations. Leigh’s art explores race, gender, and history, with a focus on the female form and Black female identity. Her sculptures are usually a combination of the human form, vessels, and architectural elements.
Simone Leigh (born 1967) is an American artist from Chicago who works in New York City in the United States. She works in various media including sculpture, installations, video, performance, and social practice. Leigh has described her work as auto-ethnographic, and her interests include African art and vernacular objects, performance, and feminism. Her work is concerned with the marginalization of women of color and reframes their experience as central to society. Leigh has often said that her work is focused on “Black female subjectivity,” with an interest in complex interplays between various strands of history. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2023.
