Speaking Out of Turn

Speaking Out of Turn is the first monograph dedicated to the forty-year oeuvre of feminist conceptual artist Lorraine OGrady. Examining OGradys use of language, both written and spoken, Stephanie Sparling Williams charts the artists strategic use of direct addressthe dialectic posture her art takes in relationship to its viewersto trouble the field of vision and claim a voice in the late 1970s through the 1990s, when her voice was seen as out of turn in the art world. Speaking Out of Turn situates OGradys significant contributions within the history of American conceptualism and performance art while also attending to the works heightened visibility in the contemporary moment, revealing both the marginalization of OGrady in the past and an urgent need to revisit her art in the present.