Clarissa T. Sligh (born 1939) is an African-American book artist and photographer based in

Asheville Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populous city in Western North Carolina a ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. At age 15, she was the lead plaintiff in a school desegregation case in Virginia. In 1988, she became a co-founder of Coast-to-Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Project, which focused on promoting works completed by women of color.

Early life and education

Sligh was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She grew up in a large working-class family and "went to segregated schools in a predominantly white Virginia county." In 1955, at the age of 15, she was the lead

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

in a school desegregation case in Virginia (''Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County'').A Thousand Reasons Why
, ''Verve Magazine'', December 2, 2013. Sligh attended the traditionally African-American

Hampton Institute Hampton University is a private, historically black, research university in Hampton, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1868 as Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School, it was established by Black and White leaders of the American Missiona ...

in Hampton, Virginia, where she earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1961. In 1972, she received a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

in Washington DC, and in 1973, an MBA from the

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. In 1999, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from

Career

Before working as an artist, Sligh had a job at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

where she worked in the crewed space flight program. In 1987, Sligh was able to leave her day job to focus on working as an artist. Her work has been exhibited at the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...

in New York City, and at the National African American Museum Project, at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

in Washington, DC, the forerunner to the

National Museum of African American History and Culture The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), colloquially known as the Blacksonian, is a Smithsonian Institution museum located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It was established in 2003 an ...

. Her work is in the collections of

The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, and includes over 200,000 works of arc ...

, the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

, the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openi ...

(NMWA), the

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill, Minneapolis, Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota,

Field of work

Sligh considers herself foremost a storyteller. Her photographs and artist books center on politics, family life, questions of identity, and personal experience. Her work also engages more broadly in creative explorations of history, social justice, and transformation. In her work, Sligh combines photographs and other images with text; as she added more text, she moved from creating prints to book works. According to Carla Williams, Sligh's work reflects on our perceptions of normality and our roles in different frameworks such as family, society, gender and ethnic groups. As Williams says, "In school readers from her childhood, Sligh discovered the model from which to confront the realities of her own life." Sligh has created books reflecting directly on her experience as the lead plaintiff in a 1955 Virginia school desegregation case (''Thompson v County School Board of Arlington County)'': an essay, ''The Plaintiff Speaks'' (2004), and an artist book, ''It Wasn’t Little Rock'' (2004 and 2005). Sligh has also created artist books that engage with her own experiences as a Black child reading books, including ''Reading Dick & Jane with Me'' (1989), a narrative about learning to read as a Black child, and ''My Mother, Walt Whitman and Me'' (2019), focusing on a copy of ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...

'' that her mother found in the trash and brought home.

Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Projects

In 1988, Sligh co-founded the Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists of Color Project with

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born Faith Willi Jones; October 8, 1930 – April 13, 2024) was an American painter, author, Sculpture, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, and Intersectionality, intersectional activist, perhaps best known for her Narrativ ...

and Margaret Gallegos. From 1988 to 1996, this organization exhibited the works of African American women across the United States. According to this source, Sligh also worked with other organizations that display art made by African American females. The organizations included the National Women's Caucus for Art (1985-1994), The Artist Federal Credit Union, New York (1986-1987),

Printed Matter Printed matter is a term, mostly used by mailing systems, normally used to describe mechanically printed materials for which reduced fees are paid which are lower than first-class mail. Each postal administration has its own rules for what may be ...

(1992-1996), and the artists advisory board of the Womens Studio Workshop (2004-2007). In 1990, Sligh was one of three organizers of the exhibit "Coast to Coast: A Women of Color National Artists' Book Project" held January 14 – February 2, 1990, at the Flossie Martin Gallery, and later at the Eubie Blake Center and the Artemesia Gallery.

wrote the catalog introduction titled "History of Coast to Coast." More than 100 Women of Color artists were included. The catalog included brief artist statements and photos of the artists' books, including works by:

Emma Amos (painter) Emma Amos (16 March 1937 – 20 May 2020) was a Postmodernist art, postmodern African Americans, African-American Painting, painter and printmaker. Early life Amos was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1937 to India DeLaine Amos and Miles Green Amos. ...

Beverly Buchanan Beverly Buchanan (October 8, 1940 – July 4, 2015) was an African-American artist whose works include painting, sculpture, video, and land art. Buchanan is noted for her exploration of Southern vernacular architecture through her art. Earl ...

Elizabeth Catlett Elizabeth Catlett, born as Alice Elizabeth Catlett, also known as Elizabeth Catlett Mora (April 15, 1915 – April 2, 2012) was an American and Mexican sculptor and graphic artist best known for her depictions of the Black-American experience i ...

, Dolores Cruz, Dorothy Holden,

Martha Jackson Jarvis Martha Jackson Jarvis (born 1952) is an American artist known for her mixed-media installations that explore aspects of African, African American, and Native American spirituality, ecological concerns, and the role of women in preserving indigen ...

, Young-Im Kim, Viola Burley Leak,

Howardena Pindell Howardena Pindell (born April 14, 1943) is an American artist, curator, critic, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist who uses a wide variety of techniques and materials. She began her long arts career working with the N ...

Adrian Piper Adrian Margaret Smith Piper (born September 20, 1948) is an American conceptual artist and Kantian philosopher. Her work addresses how and why those involved in more than one discipline may experience professional ostracism, otherness, racial ...

, Joyce J. Scott, Freida High Tesfagiorgis, Denise Ward-Brown, Bisa Washington, and Deborah Willis.

Awards

* 1988:

Women's Studio Workshop Women's Studio Workshop (WSW) is a nonprofit visual arts studio and private press offering residencies and educational workshops, located in Rosendale, New York, United States. The workshop was founded in 1974 by Ann Kalmbach, Tatana Kellner, ...

, Artist in Residence, Book Arts * 1998:

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

, Visual Arts grant * 2004:

, Artist in Residence, Book Arts * 2006: Leeway Foundation's Art and Change Grant

Works and publications

*''What's Happening With Momma?,'' Women's Studio Workshop Press, 1988"ART REVIEW; Pictures in Children's Books, From Cherubs to Divided Faces"
New York Times, August 18, 1995 *''Reading Dick and Jane with Me,''

Visual Studies Workshop Visual Studies Workshop (VSW) is a non-profit organization dedicated to art education based in Rochester, New York, in the Susan B. Anthony House, Susan B. Anthony Neighborhood. VSW supports makers and interpreters of images through education, pu ...

Press, 1989 *''Voyage(r): A Tourist Map to Japan,'' Nexus Press, 2000 *''Wrongly Bodied Two,'' Women's Studio Workshop Press, 2004 *''It Wasn't Little Rock,'' Visual Studies Workshop Press, 2005 *''Wrongly Bodied: Documenting Transition from Female to Male'', self-published with the Leeway Foundation, 2009 *''Transforming Hate: An Artist's Book, 2016

References

External links

Guide to the Clarissa Sligh PapersClarissa Sligh
on the African American Visual Artists Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Sligh, Clarissa Living people 1939 births African-American photographers American photographers African-American writers American writers American women writers Hampton University alumni Howard University alumni Wharton School alumni American book artists American women book artists 21st-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American artists 20th-century African-American women African-American women writers