This Material Life | Art + Film @lacma
This Material Life | Art + Film  @lacma
Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago
Directed by Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich

A poetic and intimate portrait of the New York artist, Simone Leigh, known for her monumental sculptures that explore the lives and experiences of Black women. Themes of identity, memory, and the artist's personal history permeate this visually rich short documentary.

About LACMA Productions
Over the last decade, with the establishment of the Art+Film initiative, LACMA has dedicated resources to producing short documentary films on artists including John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Barbara Kruger, James Turrell, Robert Irwin, Catherine Opie, Betye Saar, that are directed by outside filmmakers. By producing and commissioning work from emerging and mid-career filmmakers such as Lance Accord, Sini Anderson, Pippa Bianco, Dime Davis, Anika Kan Grevstad, Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, Lisanne Skyler, Christine Turner, Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn, Lucy Walker, and Jessica Yu. LACMA has created a series of short documentaries that have earned official selections and awards at some of the leading international film festivals, including Sundance, SXSW, DOC NYC, Outfest, Aspen Shortsfest, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Full Frame, Provincetown Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, AFI DOCS, and Tribeca. As LACMA continues to define itself as a place to innovate and set standards for museums around the country, LACMA Productions aims to establish a forum for atypical films about art and artists for our audiences worldwide. It has become more important than ever to create compelling content that can educate and inspire, connecting audiences to the artists of our time.

About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 140,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.

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This Material Life | Art + FilmReaching & Teaching All Learners Through Visual Art Pt. 2 | Educator Speaker SeriesAndell Family Sundays @ Home | Flip Books with Artist Elly DallasEighth R.L. Shep Triennial Symposium: Lee Alexander McQueen: Contextualizing Scanners in Art HistoryCooking with LACMA: The Kitchen of New SpainIn Conversation: Lonnie G. Bunch III and Michael GovanEighth R.L. Shep Triennial Symposium: Lee Alexander McQueen | Cycles of InspirationCommunities Create LA! Multigenerational Family Art Lessons5 Questions, 5 Artists: Reframing Portraiture | Jordon CasteelImagining Black Diasporas - Awol ErizkuThe Politics of Street Vendors in Los Angeles | Episode 3Artist Portrait: Courtney M. Leonard // Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art |

This Material Life | Art + Film

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