POWER OBJECT: SANFORD BIGGERS

Contemporary artists share their personal talismans both made and found 

The lotus rises 
magical and majestic 
from muck and mire

its reflection at
once talisman and portal
through middle passage 

Sanford Biggers; Lotus (detail); 2007; steel, etched glass, colored LEDs; diam. 7 ft.; installation view of Grains of Emptiness: Buddhism Inspired Contemporary Art at the Rubin Museum of Art (2010–11); image courtesy of the artist — Sanford Biggers; *Lotus*; 2007; steel, etched glass, colored LEDs; diam. 7 ft.; installation view of *Grains of Emptiness: Buddhism Inspired Contemporary Art* at the Rubin Museum of Art (2010–11); image courtesy of the artist

About the Contributor

Sanford Biggers  was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in New York City. He was awarded the 2017 Rome Prize in Visual Arts. He has had solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and Brooklyn Museum, among others. His work is an interplay of narrative, perspective, and history that speaks to current social, political, and economic happenings while also examining the contexts that bore them.