The work of Simone Leigh, the U.S. representative at the 2022 Venice Biennale, has become instantly recognizable over the past two decades. Her sculptures of the female form explore the historical presence of Black women, and take inspiration from various traditions and eras of African and African diasporic art. Leigh’s newest sculpture series, in ceramic and bronze, with and without heads, continues her experiment in “abstracting the figure” as a way to “imagine a kind of experience, a state of being, rather than one person.” Her art celebrates a powerful matriarchy. —Lucy Horowitz