Figure with Skirt

Simone Leigh’s artistic practice incorporates sculpture, video, and installation, all informed by her ongoing exploration of the black female experience. Her objects often employ materials and forms traditionally associated with African art. Through her investigations of visual overlaps between cultures, time periods, and geographies, she confronts and examines ideas of the female body, race, beauty, and community.

One of Leigh’s central themes is the black female body as a "repository of lived experience" containing strength, knowledge, and healing wisdom. Atop the sculpture’s head sits a vessel, an object historically associated with womanhood, childbearing, and strength. Through this symbolism, Leigh challenges the visitor to think about what it means to be a woman of color today. The larger-than-life raffia skirt over a steel frame base references traditional African architecture and certain culturally specific ceremonial garb. The eyeless features suggest an inner life that we as viewers cannot fully comprehend.