Betye Saar is an assemblage pioneer whose sculptural tableaux repurpose found objects to confront racism, gender stereotypes and histories of representation. Combining family heirlooms, vintage ephemera and political symbols, she charges memory with critique.
Saar’s practice has been central to Black feminist art since the late 1960s, expanding the language of assemblage with spiritual and vernacular references. Her works reclaim imagery and narrative, insisting on agency within—and against—received histories.