Bodies of Knowledge

Tauba Auerbach was born in 1981 in San Francisco, California, and currently lives and works in New York City. The artist received a BA in Visual Studies from Stanford University in 2003. Interested in the relationships between materials, ideas, and people, Auerbach examines connective tissues and structures using a wide variety of materials and processes. Their practice weaves bodily craft traditions with abstract theory to create drawings, paintings, sculptures, and more that expand our comprehension of how the world is structured and connected.

Guerrilla Girls are an anonymous collective of women artist-activists who began working together in 1985. Working across various media, the collective challenges the systems and individuals perpetuating discrimination and inequality in the art world by publicly sharing data and statistics about the representation of women and artists of color in commercial and institutional art spaces. Embracing the disruptive, confrontational, and irreverent, Guerrilla Girls draw from street art and the legacies of feminist activism to launch their critique of the art world.

Hank Willis Thomas was born in 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey, and currently lives and works in New York City. The artist received his BFA from New York University in 1998 and his MFA from California College of the Arts in 2004. Thomas’ work traces a line between the past and the present, using photography and sculpture to call viewers’ attention to how context shapes one’s understanding of the world around them. Appropriating recognizable photographs, gestures, and iconography while using a variety of strategies to move viewers with and around his works, the artist weaves together narratives that reframe the present by more fully examining our history.

Anicka Yi was born in 1971 in Seoul, South Korea, and currently lives and works in New York City. The artist studied at Hunter College and the University of California Los Angeles. Yi works with unexpected and unpredictable materials, ranging from bacteria to tempura batter to artificial intelligence, creating works that embrace ephemerality and challenge our expectations and biases. Using tools and techniques from varied disciplines, Yi’s practice manifests our culture’s fictions, fears, and possible futures, asking where they might come from and how we might actualize or move beyond them.

Educator Guides provide information about selected artists and themes, questions for classroom discussions, and hands-on activities that provide students with a fundamental understanding of creative and critical thinking processes.