biography
Zoe Leonard was born in 1961 in Liberty, New York. She lives and works in New York.
She works with photography, sculptures and installations in a conceptual and a poetic view on the world; often questioning the evolution of society. During the Eighties and Nineties she was activist with ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and the queer activist art collectives Gang and Fierce Pussy. Several works by Leonard stemmed from the feeling of loss, also derived from friends’ death caused by AIDS. Fundamental themes in her research are the urban and natural landscapes and their contrasts, personal and collective memories, migration, gender. Her work is able to make the viewer rethink the act of looking itself, how moments and situations can compose a narration.
“[…] I think the work is instinctive.” For Leonard a photograph “[…] is a subjective view. It’s a picture. […] It’s an object. It’s not reality. It’s not truth. It’s a work on paper and I made it. This is my truth. And my truth is no more true than anyone else’s.”. Through her works one can see how the act of observing can be dense and every moment anew.
Zoe Leonard was born in 1961 in Liberty, New York. She lives and works in New York.
She works with photography, sculptures and installations in a conceptual and a poetic view on the world; often questioning the evolution of society. During the Eighties and Nineties she was activist with ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) and the queer activist art collectives Gang and Fierce Pussy. Several works by Leonard stemmed from the feeling of loss, also derived from friends’ death caused by AIDS. Fundamental themes in her research are the urban and natural landscapes and their contrasts, personal and collective memories, migration, gender. Her work is able to make the viewer rethink the act of looking itself, how moments and situations can compose a narration.
“[…] I think the work is instinctive.” For Leonard a photograph “[…] is a subjective view. It’s a picture. […] It’s an object. It’s not reality. It’s not truth. It’s a work on paper and I made it. This is my truth. And my truth is no more true than anyone else’s.”. Through her works one can see how the act of observing can be dense and every moment anew.
She has taken part in several solo exhibitions such as: Al Río/To the River, Mudam, The Contemporary Art Museum of Luxembourg, Luxembourg City / Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris (2022); Survey, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York / MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018); I want a president, High Line Art, New York (2016); Zoe Leonard: Analogue, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015); Photographs, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna (2009); You See I am here after all, Dia:Beacon, New York (2008); Photographs, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid (2008); Photographs, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Zurich (2007); Vienna Secession, Vienna (1997); Kunsthalle Basel, Basel (1997).
A selected list of group shows include: Among the Trees, Hayward Gallery, London (2020); Queer Forms, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minnesota (2019); Histories of our time. On Collective and Personal Narratives, Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel (2019); The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, The Phillips Collection, Washington (2019); Carnegie International, 57th Edition, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2018); The Restless Earth, La Triennale di Milano, Milan (2017); Unfinished: Thoughts Left Visible, The Met Breuer, New York (2016); L’image papillon, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg (2013).
She took part in Documenta IX (1992) and XII (2007); Whitney Biennials 1993, 1997, 2014.
gallery exhibitions
images
public exhibitions

Institute of Contemporary Art
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
arms ache avid aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody / Joy Episalla / Zoe Leonard / Carrie Yamaoka: fierce pussy amplified
13.9 – 22.12.2019
arms ache avid aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody / Joy Episalla / Zoe Leonard / Carrie Yamaoka: fierce pussy amplified, September 13 – Dec 22, 2019, installation view, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania. Photo: Constance Mensh.

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles
Zoe Leonard: Survey
11.11.2018 – 25.3.2019
Installation view of Zoe Leonard: Survey, November 11, 2018–March 25, 2019 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, photo by Brian Forrest

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles
Zoe Leonard: Survey
11.11.2018 – 25.3.2019
Installation view of Zoe Leonard: Survey, November 11, 2018–March 25, 2019 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, photo by Brian Forrest

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
Museum of Contemporary Art
Los Angeles
Zoe Leonard: Survey
11.11.2018 – 25.3.2019
Installation view of Zoe Leonard: Survey, November 11, 2018–March 25, 2019 at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, photo by Brian Forrest
publications

Zoe Leonard: Survey
Catalog published on occasion of "Zoe Leonard: Survey" at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 2018
Prestel
New York
2018

Zoe Leonard: You See I Am Here After All
Catalog published on occasion of "Zoe Leonard: You See I Am Here After All" at Dia Art Centre, New York, 2010
Dia Art Foundation
New York
2010

Zoe Leonard. Photographs
Catalog published on occasion of "Zoe Leonard. Photographs" at Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland, 2008
Steidl
Göttingen
2008

Wiener Secession: Zoe Leonard
interview by Anna Blume
Wiener Secession
Wien
1997

Kunsthalle Basel: Zoe Leonard
Schwabe
Basel
1997
video
Curator Suzanne Cotter about Zoe Leonard's exhibition "Al río / To the River" at Mudam
2022
Rouse Visiting Artist Lecture: Zoe Leonard with José Esparza Chong Cuy
2021
Lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, introduced by Mark Lee.
Zoe Leonard: "Survey"
2019
Kavior Moon discusses Zoe Leonard’s "Survey" exhibition at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles. Video by SCI-Arc Channel.
