Suzanne Broughel is a white artist who makes work that addresses whiteness and structural racism - subject matter that she has dealt with for more than 15 years. Her work is grounded in autobiography, having grown up in Yonkers, New York - a city that was sued by the federal government in the 1980s to undo a pattern of intentional segregation in schools and housing. Broughel grew up on a street that was the border between a predominantly Black school district and a predominantly white school district. Being a white student in a predominantly Black elementary school was a blessing that anchored her antiracist worldview.
Broughel’s multidisciplinary approach to art-making spans 2D, 3D, and public participatory works. She uses prosaic objects as art materials in her quest to disrupt the status quo of structural racism. Everyday objects such as office supplies and health and beauty products are embedded with latent social meanings. These mass-produced consumer goods cross over into our intimate daily lives as we use them in our homes, on our bodies, and in our workplaces.
Broughel has exhibited at MoMA PS1, Marlborough Gallery, Columbia University, The University of Memphis, Dorsky Gallery, and Longwood Art Gallery, among other spaces. She was a participant at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, as well as the Emerge Program at Aljira Center for Contemporary Art. Broughel is the recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and A.I.R. Gallery, and was a resident artist in the Triangle Artists Workshop. She completed The Laundromat Project’s Create Change Fellowship. She was a participant in the New Museum’s R&D Seminar: Persona, as well as The Art & Law Program. She was a participant in Toronto’s Feminist Art Conference Residency and exhibited work in their Feminist Art Fest.