BOSTON, MASS.- The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston announced Lorna Simpson (b. 1960, New York) as the 2026 recipient of the Meraki Artist Award. Known for her pioneering approach to conceptual photography in the 1980s and 1990s, Simpson has expanded the boundaries and possibilities of representation for more than 40 years. Her text and image works undermine widely held assumptions about race and gender within American culture, encouraging audiences to re-examine these ideas and unconscious classifications. In her more recent body of vibrant, large-scale paintings, Simpson probes the complexities of memory, history, and experience, while innovatively experimenting with diverse media. Simpson’s continued commitment to experimentation has made her a visionary and one of the most widely admired artists of our time. Her work To My Best Friend, 2013, will be on view at the ICA as part of a collection exhibition of the same name, opening on Jan. 23, 2026.
“I am incredibly grateful to be recognized as the next Meraki Artist Award recipient,” said Simpson. "It is an honor to receive an award that celebrates the creativity and care of today’s artists.”
The $100,000 annual Meraki Artist Award is generously funded by Fotene Demoulas and recognizes the artistic achievements of women artists. Taking inspiration from the Greek word “meraki,” which means to do something with soul, love, or creativity, the Meraki Artist Award was established in 2025 to support the ICA’s efforts in exhibiting, presenting, and collecting the work of visionary artists. Simpson will accept the Meraki Artist Award at the museum’s annual Women’s Luncheon on Apr. 27, 2026.
“I’m proud to partner with the ICA to recognize the important contributions of Lorna Simpson through the Meraki Artist Award,” said Demoulas. “It is with great joy that I congratulate Lorna, whose powerful and innovative work challenges us to question and imagine a better world.”
“It is a joy to celebrate the work and practice of one of the most resonant and inspiring artists working today, Lorna Simpson, who embodies the spirit of the Meraki Artist Award and its celebration of artists who illuminate new ways of seeing the world,” said Nora Burnett Abrams, Ellen Matilda Poss Director at the ICA. “We are so excited to celebrate Lorna’s powerful and thought-provoking practice and her vision, at once rigorous, lyrical, and deeply human, as the award’s 2026 recipient.”
In January 2026, the ICA will present To My Best Friend, a collection-focused exhibition featuring works given, promised, or lent by Demoulas and Tom Coté. The artworks included represent multiple generations, styles, media, and thematic concerns, featuring stunning works by 17 of today’s leading artists. Simpson’s installation of the same name features more than 100 found elements, including 85 found photobooth images—an early democratic form of self-representation. Much like the title of Simpson’s work, the exhibition evokes the warmth and reciprocity at the heart of the relationships the ICA has built between artists, audiences, and collectors.
Lorna Simpson came to prominence in the early 1990s with her pioneering approach to conceptual photography. Simpson’s early work raised questions about the nature of representation, identity, gender, race, and history that continue to drive the artist’s expanding and multi-disciplinary practice today. Over the past 30 years, Simpson has continued to probe these questions while expanding her practice to encompass various media including film and video, collage, drawing, painting, and sculpture. Her works have been exhibited at and are in the collections of many major museums internationally and she was awarded the J. Paul Getty Medal in 2019. Lorna Simpson is represented by Hauser & Wirth.
