Judy Chicago

Judy Chicago (b. 1939, Chicago, USA; lives and works in New Mexico, USA) is an artist, author, feminist, cultural historian, and educator. Named one of Time Magazine’s most influential people in 2018, she has garnered an enduring stature. Born Judy Cohen, and known briefly after her first marriage as Judy Gerowitz, Chicago attended the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1970, the artist adopted the surname ‘Chicago’ and initiated the United States’ first Feminist Art Programme at California State University, Fresno.

She is the author of numerous books including The Flowering: The Autobiography of Judy Chicago(Thames & Hudson: 2021); Institutional Time: A Critique of Studio Art Education (The Monacelli Press: 2014); The Birth Project (Doubleday: 1985); Embroidering Our Heritage: The Dinner Party Needlework (Anchor Press/Doubleday: 1979); The Dinner Party: A Symbol of our Heritage (Anchor Press/Doubleday: 1979); and Beyond the Flower: My Struggle as a Woman Artist (Doubleday: 1975); among others.

Judy Chicago gained prominence in the late 1960s for making work from a woman-centered perspective, which challenged the male-dominated landscape of the art world. An artistic polymath, Chicago’s work is characterised by a commitment to craft and experimentation, evident in her subject matter, methodology and choice of materials.

Throughout her six-decade career, Chicago has contested the absence and erasure of women in the Western cultural canon, developing a distinctive visual language that gives visibility to their experiences. Her individual and collaborative projects address themes of birth; masculinity; Jewish identity; notions of power; extinction; and a longstanding concern for climate justice.