Lorna Simpson, Waterbearer, 1986

This is the first solo exhibition in Ireland of the African-American artist Lorna Simpson, who is considered to be one of the principal contemporary representatives of black American visual culture. Simpson is well known for her provocative photographic works that address racial and sexual identity, notions of the body, interpersonal communication and relationships. Interested in exploring the way a photograph can be read, she creates conceptual compositions pairing Minimalist black-and-white images with short texts. In the mid-1990s she began creating editions in which photographic imagery and language were printed on panels of dense felt and hung in groupings to create large-scale images. Simpson’s concentration on the figure evolved into an interest in physical space and narrative storytelling, a shift which led her to explore the moving image and the medium of film. Her work examines the tensions between visibility and invisibility, challenging the spectator to re-evaluate their own ways of seeing and perceiving. This exhibition includes a range of film and photo-works from 1986 to 2002.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Simpson has exhibited worldwide and has works in the collections of many prominent museums. Recent solo exhibitions include the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Salamanca, Spain, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and Documenta 11, Kassel, 2002.

A major new monograph, published by Phaidon, with an essay by Chrissie lles, Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, accompanies the exhibition (price €39.95).