Suzanne Lacy
| Suzanne Lacy | |
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| Born | 1945 Wasco, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Performance art, installation, video, public art, and artists' books |
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| Website | www.suzannelacy.com |
Suzanne Lacy (born 1945) is an American artist, educator, and writer. She has worked in a variety of media, including installation, video, performance, public art, photography, and art books, in which she focuses on "social themes and urban issues." She served in the education cabinet of Jerry Brown, then mayor of Oakland, California, and as arts commissioner for the city. She designed multiple educational programs beginning with her role as performance faculty at The Feminist Studio Workshop at The Woman's Building in Los Angeles.
The 1976 renovation of the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, California sparked Lacy's performance art piece, "Inevitable Associations". The marketing surrounding the old hotel's renovations paralleled the hotel to an old woman. Photographs showing the hotels' original structure stating "There May Be Life in the Old Girl Yet" forced Lacy to question the ways in which our society views older women. Throughout her career one can See Lacy's awareness and desire to rebuttal the invisibility of aging women (see performances "Whisper, the Waves, the Wind" (1984) and "Crystal Quilt" (1987). The performance of "Inevitable Associations" took place over a span of 2 days in the lobby of the Biltmore Hotel. The first day of the performance featured a public makeover of Lacy. It took nearly 3 hours for a makeup artist to publicly turn Lacy into an old woman. As the makeover was occurring, collaborators passed out flyers and literature on the hotel renovation as well as information about cosmetic surgery. Throughout the performance old women dressed in all black began to slowly enter the lobby and take seats on the opposite side of Lacy. This went nearly unnoticed until the number of elderly women had grown so large that their presence became undeniable to all of those in the lobby. Once Lacy's makeover was complete the mass of older women silently dressed Lacy in black clothes. The second day of the performance featured three elderly women participants who sat in red chairs in the lobby and told stories about their lives after the age of 60 and the effects of aging to passerby's and any audience that formed. Lacy's goal throughout the performance was to bring awareness to the invisibility women must struggle with as they age and no longer fit into society's standards of beauty. "Inevitable Associations" was a crucial point in Lacy's career as it was the first time in which Lacy took her performance to the public streets.
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