Born 1961 in Liberty, New York

Lives and works in New York City and Marfa, Texas

Across sculpture, photography and installation, Zoe Leonard examines the conditions of image making while exploring themes such as gender and sexuality, migration, displacement, and the urban landscape. Leonard self-reflexively considers the role which the medium plays in the construction of society and history, encouraging the viewer to re-consider the act of looking and observation.

Her work is currently on view in the group show Remember Me at the Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris (until 18 January 2027) and at the 2026 Venice Biennale (Central Pavilion / Arsenale, until 22 November).

She has exhibited widely in the US and internationally since the early 1990s. Leonard’s participation in Documenta IX (1992) brought her work to international attention. She has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Chinati Foundation, Marfa (2024); Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney (2023); Musée d‘Art Moderne de Paris (2022); Mudam Luxembourg (2022); Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (2018), Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2018), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2015); and Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2007–08), among other institutions. Leonard was a finalist for the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize 2010 and was awarded The Whitney Museum Bucksbaum Prize in 2014. In 2020, she was named a Guggenheim Fellow. The artist taught in the MFA program at Bard College, NY, where she served as Co-Chair of Photography from 2011-2015.

Leonard’s works are held in many public institutions, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Pinault Collection, Venice; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Tate Modern, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm.