Riva Lehrer: A Self-Portrait in Formaldehyde

For her entire life, Chicago artist Riva Lehrer has been confronted with descriptions of her body as stunted, twisted, or deformed. These encounters have pushed her to question how to depict the human form, both as a portraitist and as a lecturer in anatomy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. With a combination of brutal honesty, whimsy, and acceptance of the unknown, Lehrer explores the variant body, the divide between inner and outer life, and the mystery of survival.

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