Join Laporte Associate Curator Kate Kraczon for an in-depth tour of Ree Morton: The Plant That Heals May Also Poison.
Though the eclectic arc of Morton’s practice was rooted in Postminimalism, a poetic approach to language and symbolism progressively distanced her work from easy categorization in the early to mid-1970s. Her inclusion of personal narrative—through literary, philosophical, and autobiographical references—along with use of bold color and theatrical imagery, infused these objects with sly humor and a prescient concern with the decorative, generating a feminist legacy increasingly appreciated in retrospect.
Morton’s short but prolific career was profoundly shaped by her time in Philadelphia, where she attended graduate school and taught for several years. A key sculptural work, Sister Perpetua’s Lie, was created for a 1973 ICA exhibition and will be on view in this retrospective, along with other rarely seen installations.