{{Short description|American artist}} {{About|the photographer and artist|the winner of the survival reality show|Natalie White (Survivor contestant)}} thumb|Natalie White posing with a poster for the March For Era in 2016.
'''Natalie White''' (born 1988) is an American artist best known for her Giant Polaroid self-portraiture and feminist performance art.<ref name="Honigman">{{Cite web |last=Honigman |first=Ana Finel |date=Jun 5, 2016 |title='If I Am Not Offending People, There Is Something Wrong': Artist Natalie White on Using Her Art to Fight for the Equal Rights Amendment |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-news/artists/natalie-white-interview-era-12662/ |website=Artsy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |title=Natalie White. Natalie White for Equal Rights - Exhibition at Whitebox Art Center in New York |url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/natalie-white-natalie-white-for-equal-rights |access-date=2025-06-08 |journal=ArtRabbit |language=en}}</ref>
== Early life and education == White grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia.<ref name="Honigman" /> She began modeling as a teenager, first for the painter George Condo, then for numerous photographers.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Binlot |first=Ann |date=2018-06-07 |title=After posing for the $5.2 million George Condo, Natalie White is now her own muse |url=https://www.documentjournal.com/2018/06/from-artists-muse-to-artist-natalie-white-on-posing-for-the-5-2-million-condo/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Document Journal |language=en-US}}</ref> Although she has no formal artistic education, she learned form, composition, lighting and the art business from those for whom she modeled.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fairfox |first=Kennedy |date=2018-06-26 |title=Transmissions from Space |url=https://officemagazine.net/transmissions-space |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Office Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
== Career == White began her career as a model for artists including Peter Beard, Will Cotton, and George Condo.<ref name="whitewall" /> She experienced their work together as collaborative; however, becoming disillusioned by not being acknowledged as a creative partner,<ref name="whitewall">{{Cite web |last=Donoghue |first=Katy |date=2017-04-28 |title=Natalie White Takes Control of Her Image in "A MUSE ME" |url=https://whitewall.art/art/natalie-white-takes-control-of-her-image-in-a-muse-me/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Whitewall |language=en-US}}</ref> she began her own path as an artist. She was also, notably, involved in a legal dispute with Beard over rights to portraits he had taken and she produced.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Article |first=Eileen Kinsella ShareShare This |date=2016-07-01 |title=Legal Fight Heats Up over Peter Beard Photos |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/legal-fight-peter-beard-photo-hamptons-538364 |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Model Sues Rock and Roll Photographer |url=https://www.courthousenews.com/model-sues-rock-and-roll-photographer/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=www.courthousenews.com |language=en-US}}</ref>
White's work often plays upon her former and current role as a muse and model. She practices self-portraiture and photographs others, often using the Giant Polaroid camera that Beard used.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-06-26 |title=Transmissions from Space |url=https://officemagazine.net/transmissions-space |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Office Magazine |language=en}}</ref> She is frequently called a provocative feminist artist.<ref>{{Cite web |first= |date=June 5, 2016 |title=Her Story: Natalie White |url=https://www.artsy.net/article/anna-natalie-white-is-eforming-the-equal-rights-amendment-all-the-way-to-washington#:~:text=Born%20to%20a%20conservative%20and,City%20at%20the%20age%20of |website=Artsy}}</ref>
Her first solo exhibition, "Who Shot Natalie White?" was in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Natalie White. Natalie White for Equal Rights - Exhibition at Whitebox Art Center in New York |url=https://www.artrabbit.com/events/natalie-white-natalie-white-for-equal-rights |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=ArtRabbit |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=The Untitled Magazine |date=20 April 2013 |title=WHO SHOT NATALIE WHITE @ ROX GALLERY – NEW YORK – APRIL 16 – MAY 16 |url=https://untitled-magazine.com/who-shot-natalie-white-rox-gallery-new-york-april-16-may-16/}}</ref> White's 2017 show A MUSE ME also used the giant polaroid format but featured nude self-portraits,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Angeles |first=Maria de Los |title=Natalie White, Former Model for Male Artists, Takes Control of the Camera |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/former-model-natalie-white-goes-behind-the-camera-at-bill-brady-gallery-in-miami-9308556 |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Miami New Times |language=en}}</ref> as did her 2018 show "Transmissions from Space".<ref name=":1" /> One of the photos from this show sold for over $40,000 in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Natalie White '"Pleione"' (from 'Transmissions from Space') |url=https://www.bonhams.com/auction/29531/lot/139/natalie-white-pleione-from-transmissions-from-space/ |website=Bonhams}}</ref>
White's work was not solely in the photographic medium: her 2016 show "Natalie White for Equal Rights" featured a "life-sized, nude bronze sculpture of the artist in combat boots, hoisting the American flag"<ref name="Forbes">{{Cite web |last=McVey |first=Kurt |title=Artist, Activist, and Muse Natalie White Loses D.C. Court Case But Gets The Win For Women Everywhere |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtmcvey/2017/01/21/artist-activist-and-muse-natalie-white-loses-d-c-court-case-but-gets-the-win-for-women-everywhere/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Richard |date=2016-05-29 |title=Ex-Peter Beard muse Natalie White marching for equal rights {{!}} Page Six |url=https://pagesix.com/2016/05/29/ex-peter-beard-muse-natalie-white-marching-for-equal-rights/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |language=en-US}}</ref> and was followed by a 16-day, 250-mile march from New York City to Washington DC to advocate for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S. Constitution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Equal Means Equal Team: Natalie White |url=https://equalmeansequal.org/?team=natalie-white |access-date=August 4, 2024 |website=Equal Means Equal}}</ref> On arrival in Washington, White wrote "ERA NOW" in chalk on the sidewalk outside of the US Capitol, and was later arrested and charged for her actions.<ref name="Vice">{{Cite web |last=Weisenstein |first=Kara |date=2017-01-27 |title=How Natalie White Turned Her Criminal Trial into Performance Art |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/natalie-white-criminal-trial-performance-art/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=VICE |language=en-US}}</ref> She defended herself in the trial as a form of performance art, the march itself was later presented as a multimedia artwork, and the story was widely covered in the media.<ref name="Honigman" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pinto |first=Amanda |date=2016-06-22 |title=Natalie White For Equal Rights |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/natalie-white-for-equal-rights_b_576afec9e4b018c1a15b4d3e |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref>
White later moved on to other media, as in her 2021 show The Bleach Paintings,<ref>{{Cite web |title=NATALIE WHITE - Exhibitions - Freight+Volume |url=http://www.freightandvolume.com/exhibitions/natalie-white |access-date=2025-11-10 |website=www.freightandvolume.com |language=en}}</ref> where she used bleach to paint on large sheets of colored cloth. In 2023, she returned to the Giant Polaroid format, this time with portraits of curators and other people from the art world. The title of the exhibition was "The Last Shot", a reference to the dying media, as available film stock for the Giant Polaroid will soon be used up.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Natalie White: The Last Shot |url=https://www.ecfa.com/exhibitions/106-natalie-white-the-last-shot-beacon-ny/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Ethan Cohen Gallery |language=en}}</ref>
== Selected exhibitions ==
* 2013: Who Shot Natalie White? (New York’s Rox Arts Gallery) * 2013: Featured artist in Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation benefit. Miami Beach, Florida. * 2015: Natalie White: Instant Gratification (The Hole)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Article |first=Cait Munro ShareShare This |date=2015-08-07 |title=See Natalie White at Wallplay |url=https://news.artnet.com/market/natalie-white-at-the-hole-323662 |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2017: A MUSE ME * 2018: Transmissions from Space, Chelsea. * 2021: The Bleach Paintings (Freight+Volume Gallery, New York)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tauer |first=Kristen |date=2021-06-02 |title=Natalie White, Searching for Meaning in Bleach |url=https://wwd.com/eye/lifestyle/feature/natalie-white-freight-volume-the-bleach-paintings-gallery-1234834111/ |access-date=2025-06-08 |website=WWD |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2023: The Last Shot (Ethan Cohen Gallery at the KuBe Art Center in Beacon, New York) * 2024: Virginia Sins (with Issa Salliander), Galeria Hilario Galguera, Mexico.
== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Natalie}} Category:Living people Category:21st-century American women photographers Category:21st-century American photographers Category:21st-century American women artists Category:Artists from Fairmont, West Virginia Category:American performance artists Category:1988 births