Renee Cox: Revolution/Revelation

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.