Biography
Hannah Wilke (born Arlene Hannah Butter) was an American artist born in 1940 in New York and passed away in 1993 in Houston.
A pioneer of feminist art, she is renowned for her provocative work combining sculpture, photography, video, and performance.
She graduated in 1962 from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia and taught sculpture at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1972 to 1991.
Starting in the 1960s, Wilke created sculptures evoking vulvar forms using terracotta, chewing gum, latex, or ceramics, affirming a distinctly feminine iconography.
Her iconic series S.O.S. — Starification Object Series (1974) features her posing like a pin-up, her face and body adorned with small gum sculptures, denouncing the sexualization of the female body and consumer culture.
Her final work, Intra-Venus (1992–1993), powerfully documents the effects of cancer and chemotherapy on her own body, confronting viewers with human fragility and mortality.
Recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1982, Wilke's works are part of prestigious museum collections such as the MoMA, the Whitney Museum, the Centre Pompidou, and the LACMA.
Nationality