William
Pope.l

A visual artist, performer and educator, William Pope.L questions through an provocative aesthetic approach the traditional notions of race and identity, but also of sex, power, consumerism or social class. Although he is mainly known for his urban performances since the 1970s, the African-American artist combines photography, painting, video, sculpture and writing.

The multidisciplinary projects developed by William Pope.L constantly bring back to his activism and his family wandering, which often translate directly into a physical implication of the artist's body in his work. The attention paid to the role of objects within the society also occupies a special place. The artist subverts their use in order to denounce the institutionalization of racism in the United States. This approach is part of a broader reflection that he has been leading for many years on the visual culture and stereotypes in representing the Black American people.

The work of William Pope.L kept in the Pinault Collection was shown for the first time at the "Parole des Images" exhibition, held in 2012 at Palazzo Grassi in Venice.