Shelagh Keeley

Shelagh Keeley came to prominence in the 1980s and has a significant early body of work that is housed in numerous Canadian institutions and, given Keeley’s 22-year residence in New York City, in most major American institutions. From very early on Keeley’s drawings challenged the established art world with investigations into Africa, AIDS, health and the body. More recent work includes bookworks that serve as an archive of the artist’s visual vocabulary during nearly three decades of practice. They record themes that have pervaded her practice: diversity, history, representation and that which is political and social. This monograph is the first critical assessment of Keeley's thirty-year career.