The library has become my best friend while working on the Critical Publication. I’ve been searching for strong references—books that present an artist’s work alongside process, research, and context. One of my finds is the monograph Simone Leigh.
Simone Leigh is a New York–based artist known for her monumental ceramic and bronze sculptures that center Black female forms and histories. Her work often draws from African architecture, ethnographic objects, and traditions of domestic labor, combining hand-built techniques with rigorous research. In 2022, she became the first Black woman to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale, where her exhibition Sovereignty received widespread acclaim.
Image credits: Shaniqwa Jarvis
The structure of Leigh’s monograph is clear and well-considered. It combines image documentation, research material, and writing from leading scholars like Saidiya Hartman and Christina Sharpe. It doesn’t just highlight finished work—it shows how the artist thinks, gathers, and builds over time. This approach has become a useful model as I consider how to shape Belén Uriel‘ s publication, which needs to hold not only her sculptures but also the materials and ideas that informed them.
I’ll be honest, Leigh’s work wouldn’t be my first comparison to Belen’s. Besides some crossover in themes and a focus on materials, the work to me doesn’t operate in the same visual language or cultural context. What’s frustrating, though, is how hard it was to find a comparable example. Through my research, this was the only readily available monograph I could find—currently in print—that focuses exclusively on a living woman sculptor.
That absence says a lot. It reflects a broader lack of documentation and institutional support for women working in sculpture—especially those whose practices don’t fit neatly into commercial or academic expectations. Leigh’s work deserves the platform it’s been given, but it shouldn’t be so rare to see a woman sculptor’s work treated with this level of seriousness and depth.
Image credits: Shaniqwa Jarvis
This realization has made the goals of the project clearer. With Belén, we’re not just compiling an archive—we’re documenting how she works, how her ideas take shape, and how her materials change over time. The publication is less about showcasing finished work and more about making her process visible.
Leigh’s book is useful because it shows one way that can be done. But the fact that it’s one of the only examples highlights how rarely artists get that kind of documentation. I keep it on hand—not to copy it, but to better understand how a publication can represent an artist’s thinking.