Betye Saar makes intricate assemblages using a variety of media and techniques, including printmaking, drawing, painting, and film. Saar cites mysticism, ritual, and storytelling—both historic and fabricated—as sources of inspiration for her work. Influenced by Black feminism and African American diasporic histories, Saar creates charged artworks that challenge and complicate traditional notions of race, gender, and spirituality. She incorporates a wide range of symbols and imagery into her work, including her family history, mass market commercial items, objects collected during her global travels, cosmologies, and more. The resulting artworks are delicate layered compositions of found, created, and repurposed materials.

–Mia Matthias and Elizabeth Shaw, from the Glenstone Field Guide