Simone Leigh

Simone Leigh was born in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois, to Jamaican immigrants who came to the United States as missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene. She grew up mostly in South Shore on Chicago's South Side. Her neighborhood had become segregated by white flight beginning in the 1960s; nonetheless, she viewed the South Side of Chicago as a wonderful place for a black person to grow up. Describing her childhood in an interview, Leigh stated "Everyone was black, so I grew up feeling like my blackness didn't predetermine anything about me. It was very good for my self-esteem. I still feel lucky that I grew up in that crucible."{{Cite web|last=Golden|first=Ryan McGinley,Thelma|date=September 7, 2019|title=Zendaya and Simone Leigh Are Going Beyond Beauty|url=https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/9kebk3/zendaya-garage-simone-leigh-style|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101144322/https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/9kebk3/zendaya-garage-simone-leigh-style|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 1, 2019|access-date=November 24, 2021|website=Garage}} She went to Kenwood Academy High School and like her three siblings excelled in her academics.

Although her parents wanted her to go to a stricter religious school and live at home, Leigh chose Earlham College, associated with the Quakers, in Richmond, Indiana. She then became estranged from her parents and worked to put herself through college. She received a BA in art with a minor in philosophy in 1990.{{Cite web|url=http://earlham.edu/item/?type=Profile&title=Simone%20Leigh&id=14279&r=51625|title=Simone Leigh|website=earlham.edu|access-date=March 10, 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/simone-leigh|title=Simone Leigh |publisher=Guggenheim Museum – Collections Online. guggenheim.org|access-date=September 6, 2019}}

"I came to my artistic practice via the study of philosophy, cultural studies, and a strong interest in African and African American art, which has imbued my object and performance-based work with a concern for the ethnographic, especially the way it records and describes objects."{{Cite web|title=Simone Leigh :: Foundation for Contemporary Arts|url=https://www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org/recipients/simone-leigh|access-date=2020-02-29|website=www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org}}

File:19_02_26_Simone_Leigh_0910.jpg

Leigh has exhibited internationally including: MoMA PS1, Walker Art Center, Studio Museum in Harlem, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Hammer Museum, The Kitchen, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Tilton Gallery, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, SculptureCenter, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Kunsthalle Wien in Vienna, L'appartement 22 in Rabat, Morocco, the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, and the Association for Visual Arts Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa.{{Cite web|title = Simone Leigh {{!}} Ceramics {{!}} Academics {{!}} RISD|url = http://www.risd.edu/academics/ceramics/faculty/simone-leigh/|website = www.risd.edu|access-date = February 9, 2016}} Leigh organized an event with a group of women artists, who performed in "Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter" part of her solo exhibition, The Waiting Room at the New Museum in 2016.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/03/arts/design/at-new-museum-a-pop-up-support-system-for-black-lives-matter.html|title=At New Museum, a Pop-Up Support System for Black Lives Matter|last=Best|first=Tamara|date=September 2, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=December 10, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/exhibitions/2016/hammer-projects-simone-leigh/|title=Hammer Projects: Simone Leigh - Hammer Museum|website=The Hammer Museum|access-date=February 10, 2017}} Her large bronze sculpture of a woman, Sharifa, became the first sculpture by a living artist to be permanently displayed in the sculpture garden of the Art Institute of Chicago, after appearing at the Venice Biennial.{{Cite news|url = |title = Chicago artist Simone Leigh's Sharifa installed at Art Institute |last = Thompson |first = Erica |date = January 8, 2025|newspaper = Chicago Sun-Times|issn = |access-date =}} Leigh's work was selected among "the most important and relevant work" by curators Jane Panetta and Rujeko Hockley for the 2019 Whitney Biennial.{{Cite web | url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2019-Biennial | title=Whitney Biennial 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/arts/design/simone-leigh-sculpture-high-line.html|title=An Artist Ascendant: Simone Leigh Moves Into the Mainstream|last1=Pogrebin|first1=Robin|date=August 29, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=September 6, 2019|last2=Sheets|first2=Hilarie M.|issn=0362-4331}}

During her residency at the New Museum, Leigh founded an organization called Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter (BWAforBLM), a collective formed in direct response to the murder of Philando Castille, and in protest against other similar injustices against black lives.

Simone Leigh is the creator of the Free People's Medical Clinic a social practice project created with Creative Time in 2014.Davis, Samara. 2015. "Room for Care." TDR: The Drama Review 59, no. 4: 169–176. A reenactment of the Black Panther Party's initiative of the same name. The installation was located in a 1914 Bed-Stuy brownstone called the Stuyvesant Mansion, previously owned by notable African-American doctor Josephine English (1920–2011). As an homage to this history, Leigh created a walk-in health center with yoga, nutrition and massage sessions, staffed by volunteers in 19th-century nurse uniforms.{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/arts/design/funk-god-jazz-medicine-black-heritage-in-brooklyn.html|title = 'Funk, God, Jazz & Medicine,' Black Heritage in Brooklyn|last = Cotter|first = Holland|date = October 7, 2014|newspaper = The New York Times|issn = 0362-4331|access-date = March 5, 2016}}

She is the recipient of many awards, including: a Guggenheim Fellowship; the Venice Biennale Golden Lion (2022); The Herb Alpert Award; a Creative Capital grant; a Blade of Grass Fellowship; the Studio Museum in Harlem's Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize; the Guggenheim Museum's Hugo Boss Prize; United States Artists fellowship; and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2018).{{cite web|title=BIENNALE ARTE 2022: OFFICIAL AWARDS|website=Venice Biennale |date=April 23, 2022|url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/biennale-arte-2022-official-awards |access-date=April 26, 2022}}{{Cite web|url=http://herbalpertawards.org/artist/2016/simone-leigh|title=Simone Leigh {{!}} The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts|website=herbalpertawards.org|access-date=February 10, 2017|date=April 29, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=https://creative-capital.org/grantees/view/598/project:714|title=Creative Capital - Investing in Artists who Shape the Future|website=creative-capital.org|access-date=February 10, 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/id=59597|title=A Blade of Grass Announces 2016 Fellows for Socially Engaged Art|newspaper=artforum.com|access-date=February 11, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2017/10/31/simone-leigh-wins-studio-museum-in-harlems-50000-joyce-alexander-wein-artist-prize/|title=Simone Leigh Wins Studio Museum in Harlem's $50,000 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize|last=Greenberger|first=Alex|date=October 31, 2017|website=ARTnews|access-date=November 20, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/simone-leigh/|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Simone Leigh|website=www.gf.org|access-date=February 10, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2018/10/18/simone-leigh-wins-2018-hugo-boss-prize/|title=Simone Leigh Wins the 2018 Hugo Boss Prize|last= Battaglia |first=Andy |date=October 18, 2018|website=ARTnews|access-date=February 1, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.artnews.com/2019/01/22/united-states-artists-names-2019-fellows-including-firelei-baez-wu-tsang-cecilia-vicuna/|title=United States Artists Names 2019 Fellows, Including Firelei Báez, Wu Tsang, and Cecilia Vicuña|last=Greenberger|first=Alex|date=January 22, 2019|website=ARTnews|access-date=February 1, 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/artist-simone-leigh-hugo-boss-1376050|title=Who Is the Activist Sculptor Simone Leigh? Here Are 5 Things to Know About This Year's Hugo Boss Prize Winner|date=October 19, 2018|website=artnet News|access-date=September 6, 2019}} She was named one of Artsy Editorial's "Most Influential Artists" of 2018.{{Cite web|date=December 17, 2018|title=The Most Influential Artists of 2018|url=https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-influential-artists-2018|access-date=August 11, 2020|website=Artsy}} Her work has been written about in many publications, including Art in America, Artforum, Sculpture Magazine, Modern Painters, The New Yorker, The New York Times, Small Axe, and Bomb magazine.{{Cite web|url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/interviews/going-underground-an-interview-with-simone-leigh/|title=Going Underground: An Interview with Simone Leigh - Interviews - Art in America|website=www.artinamericamagazine.com|access-date=March 12, 2017|date=August 20, 2015}}{{Cite news|title=500 Words Simone Leigh|last=Simmons|first=William|date=March 5, 2015|work=Artforum}}{{Cite news|title="Simone Leigh" Modern Painters|last=Puleo|first=Risa|date=June 2016|work=Modern Painters}}{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/simone-leigh-the-waiting-room|title=Simone Leigh: The Waiting Room|magazine=The New Yorker|access-date=March 12, 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/17/arts/design/distinct-prisms-in-an-ever-shifting-kaleidoscope.html|title=Distinct Prisms in an Ever-Shifting Kaleidoscope|last=Grimes|first=William|date=April 16, 2015|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 12, 2017|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=http://bombmagazine.org/article/10033/simone-leigh|title=BOMB Magazine — Simone Leigh by Malik Gaines|website=bombmagazine.org|access-date=March 12, 2017}}

Simone Leigh's work and practice is the subject of a 2023 monograph, edited by Eva Respini. The monograph includes essays and reflections on Leigh's work from a number of Black scholars, including from Hortense Spillers, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Saidiya Hartman, Christina Sharpe, and Dionne Brand, among others.{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Grace |date=October 17, 2023 |title=A Groundbreaking Monograph Delves Into Simone Leigh's Enduring Commitment to Centering Black Women |url=https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/10/simone-leigh-monograph/ |access-date=December 9, 2024 |website=Colossal}}{{Cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://icastore.org/products/simone-leigh |website=Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston}}

The Brick House sculpture's torso combines the forms of a skirt and a clay Mousgoum domed hut (or teleuk)Steven Nelson, "Smone Leigh: Acts of Transformation." In Black Modernisms in the Transatlantic World, edited by Steven Nelson and Huey Copeland. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2023: pages 18–33. while the sculpture's head is crowned with an afro framed by cornrow braids.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/simoneleigh/|title=Brick House|website=The High Line|access-date=February 29, 2020}} This 5,900-pound bronze bust is of a Black woman with a torso standing 16 feet high and 9 feet in diameter at its base.Brick House is the inaugural commission for the High Line Plinth, a landmark destination for major public artworks in New York City since 2019, and is part of a series of art installations that will rotate every eighteen months{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/simoneleigh/|title = Brick House}} and the first space on the High Line dedicated solely to new commissions of contemporary art. The content of Leigh's sculpture directly contrasts the location in which it is sited in New York since it is situated where "glass-and-steel towers shoot up from among older industrial-era brick buildings, and where architectural and human scales are in constant negotiation." In 2020, another original Brick House was permanently installed in another urban location (albeit surrounded by a patch of grass) at the key gateway to the University City campus of University of Pennsylvania (near corner of 34th Street and Woodland Walk adjacent to Penn's School of Design).{{Cite web|url=https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/towering-bronze-sculpture-installed-entrance-penns-campus|title=Towering bronze sculpture installed at the entrance to Penn's campus}} Brick House is the first piece in Leigh's Anatomy of Architecture collection, an ongoing body of work where the artist combines architectural forms from regions as varied as West Africa and the Southern United States with the human body.{{Citation|last=Dale|first=Gregory|title=Research Handbook on Art and Law|chapter=The artist turned criminal: emotional obstacles to severing the body from the body of work|date=2020|pages=368–387|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-78897-147-8|doi=10.4337/9781788971478.00039|s2cid=213486501}} Brick House combines a number of different architectural styles: "Batammaliba architecture from Benin and Togo, the teleuk dwellings{{Cite web|url=https://images.lib.ncsu.edu/luna/servlet/detail/NCSULIB~1~1~88948~148238:Types-of-Musgu-Dwellings--Domed-Hut|title=Types of Musgu Dwellings: Domed Hut (Teleuk) and Delemiy}} of the Mousgoum people of Cameroon and Chad, and the restaurant named Mammy's Cupboard located on US Highway 61 south of Natchez, Mississippi."

The Waiting Room was exhibited at the New Museum in New York City from June to September 2016. This exhibition honors Esmin Elizabeth Green, who died from blood clots after sitting in a waiting room of a Brooklyn hospital for 24 hours, and provides an alternative vision of health care shaped by female, African-American experience.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/jun/29/simone-leigh-waiting-room-esmin-elizabeth-green-new-museum|title=Simone Leigh's The Waiting Room: art that tries to heal black women's pain|last=Sayej|first=Nadja|date=June 29, 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=March 11, 2017|issn=0261-3077}} In an interview with the Guardian, Leigh says "obedience is one of the main threats to black women's health" and "what happened to Green is an example of the lack of empathy people have towards the pain of black women." The Waiting Room involved public and private care sessions from different traditions of medicine such as herbalism, meditation rooms, movement studios, and other holistic approaches to healthcare. Outside of museum hours this exhibition became "The Waiting Room Underground" providing free, private workshops outside of the public eye, an homage to the healthcare work of the Black Panthers and the United Order of Tents. Additionally this exhibition featured lectures; workshops on self-defense, home economics, and self-awareness; Taiko drumming lessons for LGBTQ youth, and summer internships with the museum for teens. This work came after and is related to Leigh's previous project Free People's Medical Clinic (2014).{{Cite web|url=http://www.nyartbeat.com/event/2016/E3EC|title=Simone Leigh "The Waiting Room"|website=www.nyartbeat.com|access-date=March 11, 2017}}

Leigh is a recipient of the Venice Biennale Golden Lion (2022); the Studio Museum in Harlem's Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize (2017); John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2016); Anonymous Was a Woman Award (2016); Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2016); A Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art (2016); Guggenheim Fellowship (2012); Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Award, Creative Capital Grantee, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Micheal Richards Award (2012); Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, Artist-in-Residence The Studio Museum in Harlem (2010–11); NYFA Fellowship, Art Matters Foundation Grant (2009); Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2018); and The Hugo Boss Prize (2018) (a $100,000 award facilitated by the Guggenheim Museum that ranks among the world's top art prizes).{{Cite news|last1=Pogrebin|first1=Robin|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/29/arts/design/simone-leigh-sculpture-high-line.html|title=An Artist Ascendant: Simone Leigh Moves Into the Mainstream|date=August 29, 2018|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 29, 2020|last2=Sheets|first2=Hilarie M.|issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/simone-leigh/|title=John Simon Guggenheim Foundation {{!}} Simone Leigh|access-date=February 29, 2020}}{{Cite web |title=Past Recognition Dinner Honorees |url=https://www.andersonranch.org/donate/past-recognition-dinner-honorees/ |access-date=January 9, 2025 |website=Anderson Ranch Arts Center}}

As of 2021, Leigh was represented by Matthew Marks Gallery.{{cite web |last1=Halperin |first1=Julia |title=Simone Leigh, the Celebrated Sculptor Who Left Hauser and Wirth After Less Than Two Years, Has Joined Matthew Marks |url=https://news.artnet.com/market/simone-leigh-signs-matthew-marks-2041903 |website=Artnet |access-date=May 22, 2023 |date=November 30, 2021}} She was previously represented by Hauser & Wirth (2019–2021), David Kordansky Gallery (2019), and Luhring Augustine Gallery (2016–2019).Alex Greenberger (October 29, 2021), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/simone-leigh-departs-hauser-and-wirth-1234608364/ Simone Leigh Departs Hauser & Wirth Ahead of Venice Biennale Pavilion] ARTnews.Alex Greenberger (January 17, 2020), [https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/simone-leigh-hauser-wirth-1202675699/ Simone Leigh, Sculptor with a Focus on 'Black Female Subjectivity,' Heads to Hauser & Wirth] ARTnews.

In 2023, Leigh's sculpture Stick (2019), sold for $2.7 million at Christie's in New York, a record for the artist.{{cite web |last1=Small |first1=Zachary |title=At Christie's '21st Century' Auction, the Sound of Records Breaking for Women |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/arts/design/christies-contemporary-auction-art.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=May 22, 2023 |date=May 15, 2023}} Her previous auction record, a life-size mixed media female head titled Birmingham (2012), was sold for $2.2 million at Sotheby's in New York in 2022.Scott Reyburn (May 19, 2022), [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/19/arts/design/spring-auction-sales-sothebys.html Spring Auction Sales for Two Blockbuster Weeks Top $2.5 Billion] New York Times.

Leigh has staged many solo shows at galleries and museums in the United States and internationally, as well as several solo public art installations. Her solo shows include Simone Leigh (2004) Momenta Art, New York; if you wan fo' lick old woman pot, you scratch him back (2008), Rush Arts Gallery, New York;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh Biography |url=https://matthewmarks.com/artists/simone-leigh/information/biography |website=Matthew Marks |publisher=Matthew Marks Gallery |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814164333/https://matthewmarks.com/artists/simone-leigh/information/biography |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}} You Don't Know Where Her Mouth Has Been (2012), The Kitchen, New York;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh: You Don't Know Where Her Mouth Has Been |url=https://thekitchen.org/event/simone-leigh-you-don-t-know-where-her-mouth-has-been |website=The Kitchen |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814180550/https://thekitchen.org/event/simone-leigh-you-don-t-know-where-her-mouth-has-been |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}} Gone South (2014), Atlanta Contemporary Art Center;{{cite web |title=SIMONE LEIGH: Gone South |url=https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/simone-leigh |website=Atlanta Contemporary |publisher=Atlanta Contemporary Art Center |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211207081610/https://atlantacontemporary.org/exhibitions/simone-leigh |archive-date=December 7, 2021 |url-status=live}} The Waiting Room (2016), New Museum, New York;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh: The Waiting Room |url=https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/simone-leigh-the-waiting-room |website=New Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416034442/https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/simone-leigh-the-waiting-room |archive-date=April 16, 2022 |url-status=live}} Psychic Friends Network (2016), Tate Modern, London;{{cite web |title=Psychic Friends Network with Simone Leigh |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/psychic-friends-network |website=Tate |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814181029/https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/psychic-friends-network |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}} inHarlem: Simone Leigh (2016), Marcus Garvey Park, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York;{{cite web |title=inHarlem: Simone Leigh |url=https://studiomuseum.org/exhibition/inharlem-simone-leigh-marcus-garvey-park |website=Studio Museum |publisher=Studio Museum in Harlem |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804164551/https://studiomuseum.org/exhibition/inharlem-simone-leigh-marcus-garvey-park |archive-date=August 4, 2022 |url-status=live}} Loophole of Retreat (2019), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York;{{cite web |title=The Hugo Boss Prize 2018: Simone Leigh, Loophole of Retreat |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hugo-boss-prize-2018 |website=Guggenheim |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804164550/https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hugo-boss-prize-2018 |archive-date=August 4, 2022 |url-status=live}} Brick House (2019), High Line, New York;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh: Brick House |url=https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/simoneleigh/ |website=The High Line |publisher=Friends of the High Line |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521210231/https://www.thehighline.org/art/projects/simoneleigh/ |archive-date=May 21, 2022 |url-status=live}} Simone Leigh (2021), Hauser & Wirth, Zurich;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/33819-simone-leigh/ |website=HauserWirth |publisher=Hauser & Wirth |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512055509/https://www.hauserwirth.com/hauser-wirth-exhibitions/33819-simone-leigh/ |archive-date=May 12, 2022 |url-status=live}} Trophallaxis (2008–17), Pérez Art Museum Miami (2022–2023);{{Cite web |title=Simone Leigh: Trophallaxis • Pérez Art Museum Miami |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/exhibition/simone-leigh-trophallaxis/ |access-date=August 23, 2023 |website=Pérez Art Museum Miami}} Sovereignty (2022), American pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh: Sovereignty |url=https://simoneleighvenice2022.org/sovereignty/ |website=Simone Leigh Venice 2022 |publisher=Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702183842/https://simoneleighvenice2022.org/sovereignty/ |archive-date=July 2, 2022 |url-status=live}} and Simone Leigh (2023), originating at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston.{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/simone-leigh |website=ICABoston |publisher=Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230512024745/https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/simone-leigh |archive-date=May 12, 2023 |url-status=live}}

Leigh has also participated in many group exhibitions, including the Dakar Biennale (2014);{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh & Chitra Ganesh |url=https://biennaledakar.org/2014/spip.php?article165 |website=Biennale Dakar |publisher=Dakar Biennale |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312095937/http://www.biennaledakar.org/2014/spip.php?article165 |archive-date=March 12, 2016 |language=fr |url-status=dead}} Berlin Biennale (2019);{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.berlinbiennale.de/en/personen/2307/simone-leigh |website=Berlin Biennale |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517174304/https://www.berlinbiennale.de/en/personen/2307/simone-leigh |archive-date=May 17, 2021 |url-status=live}} Whitney Biennial (2019);{{cite web |title=Whitney Biennial 2019, Simone Leigh |url=https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2019-biennial? |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814183506/https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2019-biennial? |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}} Prospect.5 (2021), Prospect New Orleans;{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh - P.5 |url=https://www.prospect5.org/artists/simone-leigh |website=Prospect5 |publisher=Prospect New Orleans |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814183631/https://www.prospect5.org/artists/simone-leigh |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}} and The Milk of Dreams (2022), 59th Venice Biennale.{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh, Biennale Arte 2022 |url=https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/milk-dreams/simone-leigh |website=La Biennale |publisher=Venice Biennale |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706105428/https://www.labiennale.org/en/art/2022/milk-dreams/simone-leigh |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |url-status=live}}

Leigh was chosen to represent the United States at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Her works from the Venice Biennale later made their United States premiere in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art.{{Citation |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/simone-leigh/ |access-date=2025-04-04}} The exhibition was titled Simone Leigh, and it also included ceramic, bronze, and video artwork from throughout her career. The exhibition was curated by Chief Curator Barbara Lee and deputy director for Curatorial Affairs Eva Respini,{{Cite news |title=Simone Leigh - Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden {{!}} Smithsonian |url=https://hirshhorn.si.edu/exhibitions/simone-leigh/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden {{!}} Smithsonian}} who also curated the United States' pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. The exhibition ran at the ICA from April 6 to September 4, 2023. It then was displayed at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. from November 3, 2023, to March 3, 2024. Then, the exhibition was jointly presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and the California African American Museum (CAAM){{Cite web |last=admin |date=July 9, 2024 |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://artillerymag.com/lacma-and-caam/ |access-date=July 26, 2024 |website=Artillery Magazine}} from May 26, 2024, to January 20, 2025.

Leigh married art photographer Yuri Marder. Marder had been one of her roommates in Brooklyn when she first moved there. He was the grandson of a Holocaust survivor. They had one daughter together in the 1990s, but later divorced.

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• Breakdown (2011), by Simone Leigh and Liz Magic Laser, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York;{{cite web |title=Breakdown |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/37662 |website=Guggenheim |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |access-date=May 23, 2023}} and Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title=Breakdown |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/breakdown-116749 |website=SAAM |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=May 23, 2023}}
• My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell (2011), by Simone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.;{{cite web |title=My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell |url=https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/my-dreams-my-works-must-wait-till-after-hell-116747 |website=SAAM |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503142835/https://americanart.si.edu/artist/simone-leigh-31912 |archive-date=May 3, 2022 |url-status=live}} and Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/62842 |website=Whitney Museum |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
• Stack II (2015), KMAC Museum, Louisville, Kentucky{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.kmacmuseum.org/pc-simone-leigh |website=KMAC Museum |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522011635/https://www.kmacmuseum.org/pc-simone-leigh |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Trophallaxis (2008–2017), Pérez Art Museum Miami{{cite web |title=Trophallaxis |url=https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2018.005/ |website=PAMM |publisher=Pérez Art Museum Miami |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220806171631/https://www.pamm.org/en/artwork/2018.005/ |archive-date=August 6, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Dunham (2017), Art Institute of Chicago{{cite web |title=Dunham |url=https://www.artic.edu/artworks/250820/dunham |website=ArtIC |publisher=Art Institute of Chicago |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207020348/https://www.artic.edu/artworks/250820/dunham |archive-date=February 7, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• Georgia Mae (2017), Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Georgia Mae |url=https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/37752 |website=Guggenheim |publisher=Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804041603/https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/37752 |archive-date=August 4, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• 103 (Face Jug Series) (2018), University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art, Iowa City{{cite web |title=203 (Face Jug Series) |url=https://stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/simone-leigh-103-face-jug-series |website=Stanley Museum |publisher=University of Iowa |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522012228/https://stanleymuseum.uiowa.edu/simone-leigh-103-face-jug-series |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Cupboard VII (2018), Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Cupboard VII |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/61149 |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702000647/https://whitney.org/collection/works/61149 |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• Figure with Skirt (2018), Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri{{cite web |title=Figure with Skirt |url=https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/70802/figure-with-skirt |website=Nelson-Atkins |publisher=Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814154015/https://art.nelson-atkins.org/objects/70802/figure-with-skirt |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• No Face (Crown Heights) (2018), Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title=No Face (Crown Heights) |url=https://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/no-face-crown-heights |website=Phillips Collection |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211219003804/https://www.phillipscollection.org/collection/no-face-crown-heights |archive-date=December 19, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• No Face (Pannier) (2018), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston{{cite web |title=No Face (Pannier) |url=https://collections.mfa.org/objects/671832/no-face-pannier? |website=MFA |publisher=Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814144813/https://collections.mfa.org/objects/671832/no-face-pannier |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Opuwo (2018), Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence{{cite web |title=Opuwo |url=https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/opuwo-20181 |website=RISD Museum |publisher=Rhode Island School of Design |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814145940/https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection/opuwo-20181 |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Brick House (2019), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia{{cite web |title=Brick House |url=http://artcollection.upenn.edu/collection/art/1385/brick-house/ |website=Penn Art Collection |publisher=University of Pennsylvania |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123192003/http://artcollection.upenn.edu/collection/art/1385/brick-house/ |archive-date=November 23, 2020 |url-status=live}}
• Corrugated (2019), North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh;{{cite web |title=Corrugated |url=https://ncartmuseum.org/object/corrugated/ |website=NC Art Museum |publisher=North Carolina Museum of Art |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110234101/https://ncartmuseum.org/object/corrugated/ |archive-date=January 10, 2022 |url-status=live}} and Moderna Museet, Stockholm{{cite web |title=Corrugated |url=https://sis.modernamuseet.se/en/objects/102419/corrugated? |website=Moderna Museet |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522011418/https://sis.modernamuseet.se/en/objects/102419/corrugated |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Cupboard IX (2019), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston{{cite web |title=Cupboard IX |url=https://www.icaboston.org/art/simone-leigh/cupboard-ix |website=ICA Boston |publisher=Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017130154/https://www.icaboston.org/art/simone-leigh/cupboard-ix |archive-date=October 17, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• Las Meninas (2019), Cleveland Museum of Art{{cite web |title=Las Meninas |url=https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.175 |website=Cleveland Museum of Art |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522012430/https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.175 |archive-date=May 22, 2023}}
• Sentinel (2019), Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia{{cite web |title=Sentinel |url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/134.2019/ |website=Art Gallery of New South Wales |access-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317021335/https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/134.2019/ |archive-date=March 17, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Stick (2019), Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Stick |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/62986 |website=Whitney |publisher=Whitney Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210702000626/https://whitney.org/collection/works/62986 |archive-date=July 2, 2021 |url-status=live}}
• Loophole of Retreat (2019), Brooklyn Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Loophole of Retreat |url=https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224735 |website=Brooklyn Museum |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418232456/https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/224735 |archive-date=April 18, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Kasama (2020), Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas{{cite web |title=Nasher Sculpture Center Announces Recent New Gifts and Acquisitions to the Collection |url=https://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/press/press-releases/news/id/209 |website=Nasher Sculpture Center |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220603180538/https://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/press/press-releases/news/id/209 |archive-date=June 3, 2022 |date=June 1, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Quonset (2020), Whitney Museum, New York{{cite web |title=Quonset |url=https://whitney.org/collection/works/64293 |website=Whitney Museum |access-date=May 30, 2023}}
• Sentinel IV (2020), Landmarks, University of Texas at Austin{{cite web |title=Sentinel IV |url=https://landmarks.utexas.edu/artwork/sentinel-iv |website=Landmarks |publisher=University of Texas at Austin |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722013521/https://landmarks.utexas.edu/artwork/sentinel-iv |archive-date=July 22, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Sphinx (2021), Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska{{cite web |title=Sphinx |url=https://www.joslyn.org/Post/sections/282/Files/leigh_sphinx.pdf |website=Joslyn |publisher=Joslyn Art Museum |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522011859/https://www.joslyn.org/Post/sections/282/Files/leigh_sphinx.pdf |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Village Series (2021), Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, New York{{cite web |title=Village Series |url=https://buffaloakg.org/artworks/202120a-b-village-series |website=BuffaloAKG |publisher=Buffalo AKG Art Museum |access-date=May 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522011553/https://buffaloakg.org/artworks/202120a-b-village-series |archive-date=May 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Village Series (2021), Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland{{cite web |title=Simone Leigh |url=https://www.glenstone.org/artist/simone-leigh/ |website=Glenstone |access-date=August 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220420015847/https://www.glenstone.org/artist/simone-leigh/ |archive-date=April 20, 2022 |url-status=live}}
• Sentinel (2022), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.{{cite web |title=Sentinel |url=https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.227564.html |website=NGA |publisher=National Gallery of Art |access-date=August 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806032552/https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.227564.html |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |url-status=live}}
• Sharifa (2022) Art Institute of Chicago.

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• Stefan Üner: Black Renaissance. Simone Leigh, Sandra Mujinga und die Biennale 2022, in: stayinart, special edition, Innsbruck 2022, p. 82–89.

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42NGGIU0HnA Artist Profile by the Guggenheim Museum]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B97GTER2KHE Interview with CBS This Morning]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q31nf3_f3is Creative Time Summit 2015 | Knowledge as Collective Experience: Simone Leigh] on YouTube
• [https://www.guggenheim.org/exhibition/hugo-boss-prize-2018?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8dbsro6o4QIV_yCtBh1E-grIEAAYASAAEgJEu_D_BwE Simone Leigh Hugo Boss Prize]
• [https://www.hauserwirth.com/artists/28363-simone-leigh Hauser & Wirth Artist Profile]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/08/magazine/black-women-artists-conversation.html?mtrref=undefined&assetType=PAYWALL&mtrref=undefined&assetType=PAYWALL Interview with New York Times (along with Amy Sherald and Lorna Simpson)]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Simone}}

Category:1968 births

Category:Living people

Category:Artists from Chicago

Category:Earlham College alumni

Category:American contemporary artists

Category:American people of Jamaican descent

Category:Rhode Island School of Design faculty

Category:20th-century American artists

Category:20th-century American women artists

Category:21st-century American artists

Category:21st-century American women artists

Category:American women academics

Category:20th-century African-American women

Category:20th-century African-American artists

Category:21st-century African-American women

Category:21st-century African-American artists

Category:African-American ceramists

Category:21st-century American ceramists

Category:American women ceramists