It was a night of art, joy, and celebration as more than 600 people attended the February 8 opening of the Davis Museum and the launch of Both/And, an exhibition of the work of acclaimed artist Lorraine O’Grady ’55. Many attendees donned white gloves in tribute to one of O’Grady’s iconic performances, Mlle Bourgeoise Noire.
Both/And is the first major career survey of O’Grady, who over the last four decades has critiqued issues of race, class, and gender through performance art, collage, photo installation, video, and text. She will return to Wellesley in early March as part of programming at the Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities. Faculty and students will use an e-book published in tandem with the exhibition in a variety of classroom capacities.
Artist Dominique Duroseau performed Dear BlaQness: emotionally nude. but BEAUTIFUL you are. [As. Is.] worthy of love as part of “Taking the White Gloves Off: A Performance Art Series in Honor of Lorraine O’Grady ’55.” The series continues throughout the semester.
![Lorraine O'Grady holds a microphone and gestures at an audience while making a speech during dinner.](https://wellesley-college.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/news/CPA_LorraineOG.jpg?w=1440&h=810&q=90&auto=format&fit=crop&crop=focalpoint&fp-x=0.5182&fp-y=0.3021&dm=1710510867&s=2ebaf36c7c76249cbbfa9278dd3d4bd0)
![A line of people look at photos during opening night for Lorraine O'Grady's exhibit at the Davis Museum.](https://wellesley-college.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/news/LookingAtArtOGrady.jpg?w=1440&h=810&q=90&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1710459485&s=9c7d86dc5d324215d98053aee6060f6b)
![A performance artist is on stage, saturated in blue lighting as students sit on the ground looking up at her.](https://wellesley-college.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/news/PerformanceArtist1.jpg?w=1440&h=810&q=90&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1710458523&s=3b2985ccd53b2207ea844dade428b942)
![Hundreds of people wind their way through the Lorraine O'Grady exhibit, as seen from above.](https://wellesley-college.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/news/CPA_20240208_DAV_JH06974.jpg?w=1440&h=810&q=90&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1710458511&s=24c1ac4d71d9779a9df32beb919258b3)
![A grid of photos showing detail shots of attendees wearing white gloves.](https://wellesley-college.transforms.svdcdn.com/production/news/Lorraine-O-Grady-White-Gloves.jpg?w=1440&h=810&q=90&auto=format&fit=crop&crop=focalpoint&fp-x=0.5024&fp-y=0.5846&dm=1710463205&s=aadc23c9c67b3771d6a45097e6754c56)