The exhibition at the ICA Miami will present the entire suite of Saar’s room-sized installations for the first time since she began making them more than thirty years ago. Betye Saar is curated by Stephanie Seidel who is working closely with the artist to reconstitute fifteen interrelated, individual rooms created between 1980 and 1998, that reflect the artist’s interest in spirituality, ritual, and race. The exhibition will not only reconstruct Saar’s important installations, but will also serve as the occasion for them to be properly documented for the first time. The exhibition catalogue will feature photographs of every installation accompanied by exhaustive inventories detailing the components of each one. Because Saar recycles objects in her work, borrowing from one installation to make another, the inventories will be crucial for future scholarship and exhibition.
Betye Saar
“We strive to support institutions that share our artist-centered values. The small grassroots arts organizations as well as the museums that comprise our grantees provide invaluable opportunities for artists to express their unique perspectives on the pressing urgencies of the day. We hope that our grants help to amplify artists’ voices within their communities, in national discussions and debates, and across platforms in the international contemporary art world.”
Joel Wachs, President