Renée Cox

Renée Cox (b. 1960, Colgate, Jamaica) is a provocative artist, photographer, and political activist who fearlessly explores concepts of empowerment, identity, and injustice; often achieved through the striking and controversial use of her own body. Photographing her clothed and nude body serves as a celebration of black womanhood and a critique of a racist and sexist society. She challenges racial and gendered stereotypes by boldly confronting and subverting them. Cox’s photographs are a bold socio-political commentary that challenges entrenched social norms, celebrates black identity, and encourages critical dialogue on race, gender, and empowerment. Cox has explored numerous identities throughout her life: Catholic schoolgirl, wife, mother, woman who knows and shows her sexual pleasure, and black woman artist contesting an art history that has all but excluded her race. A cross between Diary of a Mad Housewife and The Sensual Woman, American Family is a veritable minefield of taboos, revealed by the miscegenated family album and the erotic display of the artist's own beautiful body.

Renée Cox attended the Whitney Museum of American Art, Independent Study Program and earned an M.F.A. from the School of Visual Arts. The Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation honored her in 2015, and she received the Aaron Matalon Award, The National Gallery of Jamaica in 2007. Her work is included in several collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Princeton Art Museum Cox lives and works in Harlem, NY and Amagansett, East Hampton. Renée Cox lives and works in Harlem.