Betye Saar

Betye Irene Saar (born 30 July 1926; died 26 July 2026) was an artist known for her work in the medium of assemblage. She was a visual storyteller and an accomplished printmaker.

Quotes

My intent was to transform a negative, demeaning figure into a positive, empowered woman … a warrior ready to combat servitude and racism.

Wherever I go, I say: ‘What’s the alternative religion?’ because every country has it.

The idea of the work, the accumulation of the materials, the putting them together, the sharing of a work are all part of a ritual. This process of objectification is … purification. Once in the world, the artwork can become part of someone else’s ritual.
I saw his work and realised that it was OK to make art out of anything.
Theatre sets and lighting influenced my later work … I liked a certain kind of theatrical feeling to my installations.
In Black culture, as far as I know, women [always] worked.
- Artist whose assemblages of found objects explored racism, ritual and religion, The Guardian
If you’re an assemblage artist, you don’t throw away anything.
Even now, if I’m walking down the street and I find a piece of paper that’s really interesting…I still collect odd things and hope to recycle them into assemblage. Something has a little voice that says, ‘Oh, take me home!
Growing up, especially girls, they like to wear costumes and dress up and pretend to be other things, so that just seemed natural to me.
And then I found out if I present this in the right way, it can also be art.
Anything that has to do with the arts is hard living.
I used to wonder: Why is it so hard to be an artist? [But] all the rest of the working people were jealous, because we could really do what we wanted to do. We could use our imaginations to do all sorts of things.
Hey, I like old boxes and bits of metal. I collect stuff. I can do that, too.
- Interview with Betye Saar,Carla Magazine-(August 16, 2026)by Evan Nicole Brown