Genevieve Gaignard

Artist Genevieve Gaignard’s transformative self-portraits delve into feminism, pop culture, class, and a number of other social conventions in a style uniquely her own. She costumes herself as eccentric stereotypes of women from history books or even her own life, often devising elaborate domestic setting sourced from thrift stores. Her images have been presented in group exhibitions at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; her work is also in the collections of Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Big Break: Her immersive installation of collages and photographs at New York’s Spring/Break Art Show in 2016.

Inspiration: “My work starts from my personal story, growing up biracial in a small, predominantly white town in New England. It has evolved into something that, while still personal, is able to speak on a more universal level.”

Up Next: Gaignard’s work is currently included in the group show “Still I Rise” at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art until May 2020. Upcoming is a solo presentation at next year’s Frieze Los Angeles with her gallery, Vielmetter Los Angeles.

“Genevieve Gaignard is one of the most intriguing young artists in America. Her self-portraits reference the greats of the genre yet are wholly her own as she explores issues as far sweeping as race, class, popular culture, and beauty ideals.” —Eric Shiner

 A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Late Fall Issue under the headline “Galerie Emerging Artist Award.” Subscribe to the magazine.