“I have no idea whether I’ll write again. One reason why I left it was because I tend to write about the most ghastly subjects, so it’s not just the difficulty in having something turn out right—it’s the difficulty of staying with the material long enough to complete it.” —Jenny Holzer
For over four decades, Jenny Holzer has been an unflinching voice in examining issues of social justice. Best known for her text-based public art projects that explore how language is used both as a form of communication and as a means of concealment and control, Holzer’s work remains more relevant than ever. In this video from ART21, Holzer discusses why she finds it so difficult to write the texts that are featured in her work. Holzer was featured in the episode “Protest” from Season 4 (2007) of Art in the Twenty-First Century on PBS.