Jenny Holzer

1. Jenny Holzer
Feminist American Literary Artist

2. Biography
 Born July 29th, 1950
 In college, she aspired to be an abstract painter.
 For more than thirty years, Jenny Holzer has presented her
astringent ideas, arguments, and sorrows in public places
and international exhibitions, including 7 World Trade
Center, the Reichstag, the Venice Biennale, the
Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, and the
Whitney Museum of American Art.

3. Art Practice
 Her medium, whether
formulated as a T-shirt, as a
plaque, or as an LED sign, is
writing, and the public
dimension is integral to the
delivery of her work. Starting
in the 1970s with the New
York City posters, and up to
her recent light projections on
landscape and architecture,
her practice has rivaled
ignorance and violence with
humor, kindness, and moral
courage.
Protect me from what I want by
Jenny Holzer, (1985-86).
Electronic LED sign, Spectacular
board, Times Square, New York.

4. Art Practice
 Another one of Holzer’s powerful series is
called Lustmord which means sexual murder
involving rape in German. This piece is
dedicated to raising awareness on the tragedy
of rape following the war on what was
Yugoslavia. The series first appeared as ink on
skin in the Sudeutsches Zeitung Magazin gallery
in Germany in 1993-1994. The texts are written
on the skin of female volunteers and have
either the viewpoint of the perpetrator of the
rape, the victim or the observer and cropped
into a square image.
I am awake in the place
where women die, part of
the Lustmord series by
Jenny Holzer (1993). Ink
on flesh, documented by
photograph.

5. Art Practice
 “The writings on the skin opens up the
incongruity between the rape as a traumatic act
and its symbolic inscription. The inscriptions
remain detached from the body; they are
messages that can never convey the trauma of
the act itself” (Reckitt & Phelan 2001). The
viewer must take on the role of decider
between which viewpoint they are reading the
text in making them in some way feel as though
they are embodying the text. This forces the
viewer into the shoes of the person they are
reading about thereby holding the viewer
responsible for what has almost become a
norm in our society.
I am awake in the place
where women die, part of
the Lustmord series by
Jenny Holzer (1993). Ink
on flesh, documented by
photograph.

6. You may read the text of this image at the bottom of the website, in your own
time if you wish.
http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/contemporary/Jenny-Holzer.html
A section of the
skin writing
pieces from the
Lustmord series
by Jenny Holzer
(1993). Ink on
flesh,
documented by
photograph.

7. Artist Interview
 Click to view a YouTube video which explores Holzer’s
practice and investigate her thoughts on her works.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74WGcc084M
 Homework: Write your own Truism.