Betye Saar
One of the most celebrated artists in the medium of assemblage, Betye Saar was born in Los Angeles, where she studied in design. In 1967, she visited an exhibition by found objects sculptor Joseph Cornell, which radically impacted her artistic trajectory. She began lining assemblage boxes with her own prints and drawings, and filling them with found objects, creating pieces that addressed race and current events.
Following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Saar's work became more overtly political. During the 1970s, she was a member of the Black Arts Movement, composed of poets, writers, performers, and artists who merged activism and art to confront white power structures and give voice to the Black experience. One of Saar's best known works, The Liberation of Aunt Jemima (1972), features a mammy doll armed with a rifle and a grenade, ready to fight against the prejudice, physical violence, and disparaging stereotypes imposed on Black Americans.