Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer is a conceptual artist whose practice, from early street posters to more recent light projections and virtual-reality apps, aims to rival ignorance and violence with humor, kindness, and courage. Holzer began creating her Truisms posters in 1977 as a student in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. The posters first appeared as anonymous broadsheets wheat-pasted onto walls, buildings, and fences throughout downtown Manhattan. Presenting text in public spaces is integral to Holzer’s work, be it via T-shirts, plaques, LED signs, or stone benches. She completed an MFA at the Rhode Island School of Design and was an active member of the collective artists’ group Colab in the early ’80s.