Sligh, Clarissa T.

Artist and author of works such as Wrongly Bodied, Reading Dick and Jane with Me, and It Wasn't Little Rock.

Clarissa Sligh is a visual artist, writer, and lecturer. Sligh was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Arlington, Virginia, lived in Manhattan for 30 years and now resides in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina. She has taught at New York University, the School of Visual Art and the University of Pennsylvania.

When she was 15 years old she became the lead plaintiff in the 1955 school desegregation case in Virginia (Clarissa Thompson et. al. vs. Arlington County School Board). After working in math and science with NASA and later in business, she began a career as an artist, using photographs, drawings, text, and personal stories to explore themes of transformation and social justice.

In 1988, she published her first artists' book "What's Happening With Momma?" through the Women's Studio Workshop in New York. Additional artists' books include Wrongly Bodied Two, It Wasn't Little Rock, Voyage(r): A Tourist Map to Japan, and Reading Dick and Jane With Me.

Her solo art installations include Witness to Dissent, Sandy Ground, Re(Union), and Passages. Other artistic series include The Masculinity Project, Reframing the Past, Reading Dick & Jane, Suburban Atlanta, and Jake in Transition. A list of selected works as well as background information and images from each project is available on Sligh's website .