Barbara DeGenevieve

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Barbara DeGenevieve (1947–2014) was an American interdisciplinary artist known for photography, video, and performance. Her work explored power, sexuality, censorship, and ethics, and she taught and wrote about these topics. Her art and teaching sparked conversation and sometimes controversy.

Early life
- Born May 21, 1947, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
- Earned a BA from Wilkes College (1969) and an MA from Southern Connecticut State University.
- Studied photography at the University of New Mexico and earned an MFA in 1980.
- Taught at several universities, including the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, San Jose State University, the San Francisco Art Institute, and the California College of the Arts.
- Joined the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) in 1994 as a professor and chair of the Photography Department.

Career
- Her art examined relationships of dominance, power, and sex, often pushing boundaries and provoking discussion.
- In the early 1990s, during national debates about government funding for the arts, she and other artists were affected by NEA funding cuts.
- At SAIC, she helped create an interdisciplinary/new media arts program and encouraged students to work with difficult and explicit material. She spoke about the responsibilities that come with presenting sexually charged imagery.
- She was known for challenging taboos and for a teaching approach that invited debate about censorship, ethics, and free expression in art.
- One controversial teaching moment was a class sometimes called the “porn class,” officially titled body language, which asked students to create and edit porn. The class was canceled after a year amid community protest.

The Panhandler Project
- A major project from 2004 to 2006 in Chicago.
- DeGenevieve approached five panhandlers, offering $100 to pose nude for photographs in a hotel room, with food and a night’s lodging provided. The project was documented on video as well.
- The aim was to provoke discussion about political incorrectness and to explore questions of power, gender, and class in images.

Selected works
- The Boys in Albuquerque (1978–1979)
- True Life Novelettes (1979–1982)
- Large Scale (1981–1985)
- Cliche Verres (1985–1992)
- Large Scale Stretched Fabric & Macaroni (1991–1995)
- Porn Poetry (1996–1997)
- Steven X and Barbara C (1999–2000) – a video project
- The Panhandler Project (2004–2006)
- Desperado (2004–2006)

Selected exhibitions
- In Your Face: Barbara DeGenevieve, Artist & Educator, SAIC Galleries, Chicago (2024)
- Barbara DeGenevieve: Medusa’s Cave, Iceberg Projects, Chicago (2015)
- Kissy-Kissy, Dean Jensen Gallery, Milwaukee (2007)
- Objectifying the Abject: Exploitation, Political (In)Correctness and Ethical Dilemmas, Gallery 400, University of Illinois at Chicago (2006)
- I Smell Sex, Visual AIDS (2001)
- Barbara DeGenevieve: My Words in Your Mouth, Ezell/Gallery, Chicago (1995)

Selected essays
- Censorship in the US or Fear and Loathing of the Arts, Social Identities (2007)
- The Emergence of Non-Standard Bodies and Sexualities, Porn Studies (2014)

Death and legacy
- Barbara DeGenevieve died in August 2014 in Chicago, from cervical cancer.
- She is remembered for her fearless exploration of sexuality, power, and ethics in art, and for her contributions as an educator who pushed students and colleagues to think critically about art and society.