Nancy Spero: Becoming an Artist | Art21 "Exclusive"

Episode #007: Photographs of Nancy Spero from the 1960s to 2000.

A pioneer of feminist art, Nancy Spero's work since the 1960s is an unapologetic statement against the pervasive abuse of power, Western privilege, and male dominance. Executed with a raw intensity on paper and in ephemeral installations, her work often draws its imagery and subject matter from current and historical events such as the torture of women in Nicaragua, the Holocaust, and the atrocities of the Vietnam War.

SEE: More images, videos, and news for Nancy Spero.

LEARN: Nancy Spero is featured in the Season 4 (2007) episode Protest of the Art:21—Art in the Twenty-First Century television series on PBS.

DISCUSS: What do you think about this video? Leave a comment!

Learn more about Nancy Spero: http://www.art21.org/artists/nancy-spero

VIDEO | Producer: Susan Sollins & Nick Ravich. Sound: Merce Williams. Editor: Lizzie Donahue. Artwork courtesy: Nancy Spero. Thanks: Samm Kunce.

Nancy Spero
Becoming an Artist

I felt doomed to be an artist early on,

because of the way I drew
all over the margins of my textbooks

rather than actually doing the classwork.

I was never interested
in doing anything else.

I hadn't liked high school,

I hadn't liked university,

but I LOVED art school.

So that's when I decided to be an artist,

just to go at it.

But I was kind of worried
about being an artist.

That was the only thing I felt I could do,
was draw and paint.

and it was the only thing I wanted to do.

And yet for some strange reason

I think I felt that
it wasn't of use to society.