The Museum is open Tuesday - Sunday. 

Plan your Visit >

Back To Exhibitions

Renee Cox: Revolution/Revelation

Curated by Dr. Francine Weiss, Director of Curatorial Affairs & Chief Curator

June 15, 2024 - March 2, 2025

Ilgenfritz, Damon, Parlor, 2nd Fl Corridor, Blue Room Galleries and Stairwell (Griswold House)

Opening Reception
Friday, June 14, 5:00 – 7:00 PM
Griswold House

Renee Cox is one of the most influential photographers working today. Born in Colgate, Jamaica and active in New York, Cox began her career as a fashion editor and photographer in New York and Paris for Glamour Magazine, Votre Beaute, and Vogue Homme. During her three years in Paris, she also photographed for designers Issey Miyake and Claude Montana among others. 

In 1980, Cox turned the camera on herself. Inspired by the birth of her first son, she became a fine art photographer and earned her MFA at the School of Visual Arts in 1992. Her early works celebrated Black womanhood and motherhood, identity, and culture. Wearing different guises, and creating new narratives and tableaux, Cox has created different bodies of work that challenge historical stereotypes and counter the sexism and racism prevalent in Western culture. She aptly refers to this practice as “flipping the script.” 

Featuring early works, from Cox’s “Yo Mama” series, to her recent works, from the “Soul Culture”series and her Afrofuturistic work “The Signing,” this survey exhibition champions Cox’s forty-year career as an artist and trailblazer for Black and women photographers.

Missy at Home from the series "The Discreet Charm of the Bougies," 2009, digital ink jet print on watercolor paper, 30 x 40 in., Courtesy of the Artist.

Cousins at Pussy Pond from "The American Family Series," 2001, three archival digital c-prints on aluminum, Courtesy of the Artist.

Nanny Washing from the series "Queen Nanny of The Maroons," 2004, color digital inkjet on watercolor paper, Courtesy of the Artist.

River Queen from the series "Queen Nanny of The Maroons," 2004, digital inkjet on watercolor paper, 44 × 44 in., Courtesy of the Artist.

Liberation of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben from the series "Raje," 1998, Cibachrome print, 48 x 60 in., Courtesy of the Artist.