HANNAH WILKE (1940-1993)

Hannah Wilke was an American conceptual artist known for her pioneering contributions to feminist art in the late 20th century. Born in New York City in 1940, Wilke studied at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, where she received her BFA in 1962. She emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s with a body of work that boldly explored female identity, sexuality, and the politics of the gaze.

Wilke worked across media, including sculpture, photography, performance, and drawing, and is particularly known for her small, vulva-shaped sculptures made from chewing gum, latex, and ceramics. These forms became a signature visual language through which she challenged cultural taboos surrounding the female body. Her "S.O.S — Starification Object Series" (1974–82), in which she posed for photographs with small, scar-like gum sculptures affixed to her skin, remains one of her most influential works, confronting both objectification and the double standards applied to women in art.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Wilke turned the camera on herself again in the “Intra-Venus” series, documenting her body during her battle with lymphoma. These final works expanded her lifelong investigation into beauty, vulnerability, mortality, and female agency.  

Wilke died in 1993 at age 52. Her legacy continues to influence contemporary feminist art, performance, and body politics.