Installed at BMA.

Detail of BMA installation.

2005. Installation at School 33. Pink plastic shopping bags inflated with human breath and containing love notes attached to floor and ceiling. The walls are pink as a result of reflected light from the bags.

Performance piece in three NYC parks, approximately 50' x 50' in each park. At first, I picked up all the white trash, and then replaced it with pink trash which had greater visual impact against the green grass. The three parks were Central, Prospect, and Van Cortlandt. Somebody in Central Park told me it looked like fallen leaves. Later, I made many preserved leaf pieces. 1982.

Plastic and paper drop cloths. 1/2" x 5' x 5'. 2008. A memorial to my mother.

Plastic and paper drop cloths. 1/2" x 5' x 5'. 2008. Detail. A memorial to my mother.

Branches, confetti. Dimensions variable. 2009. Related to issues of protection.

Branches, confetti. Dimensions variable. 2009. Detail. Related to issues of protection.

Mixed media. Dimensions variable. 2009. Related to issues of unification.

Blue matte board. Dimensions variable. Intervals: 9" x 11". 2009. Related to issues of healing.

Anklet. 2009. NY Times newspapers. Five units, each 12" high. Installed for the show "30 Seconds Off an Inch" at The Studio Museum, Harlem, NYC.

Africa. 2009. Three 30-second performances at the opening of "30 Seconds Off an Inch" at The Studio Museum, Harlem, NYC.

Movement and sculpture have been inextricably bound in my practice for 40 years. Walking around in a daze, placing things adroitly. Moving through amorphous space - defining it. Revealing social interactions in a space. Commenting on the entire world around us including that which we make and that which is given us. All of this is the essence of sculpture for me. There is a relationship between sculpture and movement - movement and thought - movement and feeling - talking and movement -- talking to an audience and moving.... Movement lets us know where we ARE, as does sculpture For the Global Africa show I propose placing â??sit-uponsâ? throughout the space - we will sit - myself and others of the audience. This is because there is a lot to gain from quietly sitting. Much to see. Much to hear. Possibly much to say. Possibly a task to perform? There will be a moment to reflect where thinking flows and spirits are healed.

2010-2011 New York Times newspapers Each Sit Upon is 14 inches square Space variable for entire composition Each Thursday I sit with the piece for two hours talking to the public and adding new Sit Upons. I hope to reach five hundred by the close of the show.

2007 - 2008. Shredded, twisted and wrapped newspapers (mostly NY Times). This view has a 6' diameter and is 1' high. I was thinking about all the bad news the papers bring us and by wrenching the news like I might wring out the clean laundry, I could expunge the bad parts. Making them became a kind of mantra.

Detail of side view.

Detail showing top view. The papers became a field.

Installed at BMA.

2006. Again, shredded, twisted and knotted newspapers (mostly NY Times), and steel. It was 5' high, 26 running feet long, and 6" deep. I was thinking about the distance between us as people. Our true identities are hidden behind veils of one sort or another.

2004. Shredded, twisted, and knotted newspapers (mostly Sunday NY Times). 3' x 7' x 5' at the David Allen Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Every Sunday we're reading part of the rainforest. Our pleasure....

Detail showing relationship to room and spectators.

2004. Installed at Loyola Marymount College art gallery. Film, newsprint, and newspapers. Size variable and conforms to gallery dimensions. This gallery has a vaulted, slanted ceiling that was approximately 18' high. Everything in the show relates to counting days. On the newsprint were drawings I had made while attending two years of classes at MICA. The film depicted a daily makeup ritual and, of course, the newspapers, telling us the daily bad news.

"Welfare Mothers". Video projection of various words and phrases which relate to the African American experience, installed at the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore for a show titled, "At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland", an exhibition curated by George Cicle and his Exhibition Design class at MICA. The words were on a thirteen minute cycle, fading in and out at three second intervals. The music from Baltimore-related musicians was on a 26 minute cycle and consisted of musicians working compositions from the early 20th century to modern hip-hop. The projection is on an enlarged archival photograph of former slaves, titled "Free Slaves Planting Sweet Potatoes" on the Hopkinsons' Plantation, Edisto Island, SC, 1862 by an unknown photographer. I find the image compelling because everyone is depicted respectfully. The people are agricultural workers, reminding me of Millet's French farmers.

"Jim Crow Laws" Detail of another phrase projected onto the photo.

1997 - 2004. This installation - 2006 at the National Academy Museum, NYC. Film, newspapers, newsprint. In this installation, the film is projected onto the portrait space above the mantelpiece in the gallery. Ken Johnson, a reviewer, said that the sophisticated film was presented in a jungle environment and the project therefore became a sociological expression.

Detail showing makeup application in the film.

Detail showing result of makeup application in the film. Someone asked, "Is that a woman?" I realized that I was pushing more buttons than I knew.

2004. Inspired by Buddha's smile, preserved Red Bud leaves from the tree in my back yard.

2001. Canopy of preserved Red Bud leaves. 3' x 7' x 7' at the David Allen Gallery in Brooklyn. Below it on the wall is a piece called "Papyri" from 2001, made of wire rope and wrapped around the room at wainscot height.

2001. Bed canopy made from preserved Red Bud leaves. 3' x 6' x 3'. Made at a residency at McDowell Colony.

1983. Preserved rose leaves, cot, and pillow. Installed at Sparc art gallery in the Venice, CA jailhouse. The idea was that the prisoner was remembering nature.

Video projection and installation in a room at School 33 in Baltimore. The installation conforms to the limits of the space. The installation consists of debris that might be washed ashore during a flood. The video depicts my first meeting with my biological uncle as he describes our family to me. It is approximately 10 to 12 minutes long. The River represents the flow from ancestors to the present. In my family, it's like a flood, and the debris from the flood is what I'm still dealing with.

1996 - 2008. Installation at the IRT 7th Ave station at 110th and Lennox in NYC. View of entrance stairs. It is made of glass mosaic and contains empowering African symbols and text messages from Malcolm X's speeches. Sponsored by Arts for Transit.

View of text above entrance with borders of African symbols.

This view shows the entrance mosaic above and floor mosaic below.

This shows one side of the freestanding telephone wall with African symbols.

This view shows the other side of the freestanding wall. Text is from a speech by Malcolm.

1989. Bus depot in downtown Seattle, WA. The planters were made of cast concrete and granite. They were inspired by bonsai planters. I worked with a landscape designer to choose plants which mimicked those found in bonsai.

1993. Installation at Pittsburgh International Airport's Reflection Room. I collaborated with a designer to make the cloud ceiling. I also collaborated with a filmmaker to make the cloud video triptych. The 26 minute video was accompanied by percussion music including lots of African drumming and told the story of a day from dawn to dark. The floor consisted of cloud tiles supplied by a company in California. Window treatments were intended to reduce light and cast a pastel aura.

1994. Inspired by the Native Americans who once lived at the site. Made of cast concrete. It extends around the corner into the play yard of this public school in upper Manhattan. The entrance wall becomes the rear seating wall. Fabric designs are on the side of the entrance wall and the top has pottery and artifacts from the tribes that lived there.

Detail of the seating wall at the rear of the play yard.

1995. At P.S. 8 in upper Manhattan. I added steel leaves and trees from tropical climes to this architect-designed fence. The fence is 25' high. I used this tropical imagery because the neighborhood has many residents from the Caribbean and I wanted them to feel surrounded by the familiar.

2000. Installed at the Evergreen House in Baltimore. Made of golden mylar installed in various parts of the garden. I wanted the mylar to reflect the surroundings. This shows the grotto door. The door was approximately 12' x 6'.

Detail of grotto door.

Detail of golden floor that was in another room of the garden. It was 60' long and 4' wide and 18" above the ground. In the Spring, it gathered the lilac blossoms. At all times it reflected the canopy above.

1979. Thirty-three units fill a room at P.S. 1. Wire rope and wire. Each unit is 16" high.

Detail of "Leaning". View is 16" x 36" x 36".

1978. Wire rope and wire. 1'5" x 7'8" x 9'5".

1981. This shows a detail of an installation at Los Angeles County Museum of Art. There were 21 units of wire rope on the wall and floor. The standing units were approximately 4' x 3' x 3'. I thought having a show in a major museum was treading on dangerous ground.

1987. Wire rope. 20 units on a 300' x 200' field at Artpark in Lewiston, NY. Each unit is 4' x 3' x 3'. These were installed on a toxic waste dump that was only 18" below the surface.

1978. Wire rope and wire. 148 units. 2' x 10' x 12'.

1972 - 1973. Wire rope. 84" x 60" x 6".

1973. Wire rope. Foreground: Number Three - 8' x 8' x 2'11.5" Middleground: Number Two - 18' x 11' x 5'6" Background: Number One - 13' x 5' x 4'5"

1973. Wire rope and steel. Background: Number Four - 6'6" x 12' x 4'.

1979. Wire rope and steel. 10' x 140' x 5'. Installed at Mulholland Drive and the San Diego Freeway, northbound, Los Angeles, CA. The trees were planted in a line to reflect the lines of traffic and the fence posts near the site. It was sponsored by Caltrans and Brockman Gallery Productions.

1982. Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery in LA. Performed at the opening of Afro American Abstraction, which originated at P.S. 1. Performers shown are myself and Senga Nengudi.

1982. Another view showing, from left, Ulysses Jenkins and Frank Parker.

1982. Another view, near the end.

1984 - 1985. 20 minute performance. Originally written and directed by myself. In this performance, May Sun is the director (standing on far right). Senga Nengudi is in the center, and Ulysses Jenkins is at the rear.

1976. Performed at noon at Arco Center for Visual Art, LA with friends. It was 30 minutes in duration and accompanied by the music of Manitas de Plata. I saw this as confrontational because the gallery didn't usually have performances.

Detail of performance at Arco. Artist Louie Lunetta is in the foreground.

1978. Part of a trio of pieces called "Lives". This piece is called "Lives" and documents how mothers and their children move similarly.

1978. This was part of a trio of pieces I called "Lives". It was performed for the camera.

1981. Performance where Michelle and I became wire rope. We began as club patrons, stripped, and then became the metal rope. Performed at Stilwende in NYC.

1980. Performance and installation using 1.5" red fabric tape at Grand Central Station waiting room. Sponsored by Remy Martin. I was denied access to the chandeliers where I intended to change white bulbs to red ones. So I wore a bright red suit and put bright red crosses on furniture, walls, and people. I got a picture and a good review!