Lorna Simpson, an acclaimed conceptual artist, earned her BFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts, New York, and her MFA from the University of California, San Diego. Emerging in the mid-1980s, she became known for her photograph-and-text works, challenging conventional views on gender, identity, and culture. Simpson’s early work features unidentified figures used to explore the shaping forces of culture and gender in contemporary American life. In the 1990s, she expanded into multi-panel felt photographs and later moved into film and video, examining themes of memory, desire, and identity. Her works are held in major collections, including MoMA and the Whitney Museum, and she received the J. Paul Getty Medal in 2019.

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