LA's Betye Saar is a legendary African-American artist. A fey figure in America's Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, her works challenge myths and stereotypes about race and femininity. As a child, she visits her grandmother in Watts and witnesses the construction of the Watts Towers. Inspired by the creation of towering spirals from discarded objects, she becomes an assemblage artist, working with found objects organised into collages, assemblages, and installations. Her works evolve from early general statements about black social and political concerns to her later more personal explorations of her heritage and beliefs. Billed as 'US artist in residency', she continues on to Auckland, for a show at Artspace.
