Preservers

Abstract

This chapter centers on the work of Lorraine O’Grady between 1980 and 1983, specifically examining those projects undertaken through her performance character Mlle Bourgeoise Noire. Given the racism and sexism that pervaded the white- and male-dominated early 1980s New York art world, O’Grady formulated an alternative model for seeking out future accomplices. This took the form of individuals to exhibit, analyze, and view her work in a role that she (borrowing a term from Martin Heidegger) called preservers. Using Mlle Bourgeoise Noire to assume primary responsibility for conceptual and, at times, potentially literal forms of trespassing into art institutional spaces that precluded her work, O’Grady undertook various tactics to gain “legal” entry, only to ultimately leave the art world behind altogether for several years.