Senga Nengudi (née Sue Irons; born September 18, 1943) is an African-American visual artist and curator. She is best known for her abstract sculptures that combine found objects and choreographed performance. She is part of a group of African-American avant-garde artists working in New York City and Los Angeles, from the 1960s and onward. Nengudi was named the 2023 Nasher Prize Laureate for her contribution to the discipline of sculpture. Early life and education Nengudi was born Sue Irons in Chicago, Illinois in 1943. Following the death of her father in 1949, she moved to Los Angeles and Pasadena with her mother. As a result of an existing segregated school system, Nengudi found herself in between schools, transferring back and forth between Los Angeles and Pasadena. Her cousin Eileen Abdulrashid is also an artist. Following her graduation from Dorsey High School, Nengudi studied art and dance during the 1960s at California State University, Los Angeles, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1967. She then spent a year studying at Waseda University in Tokyo, in the hopes of learning more about the Gutai Art Association. In 1967, she returned to California State University, from which she received a Master of Arts degree in sculpture in 1971. During college, in 1965, she interned at the Watts Towers Art Center when Noah Purifoy was the director. She also worked as an art instructor at the Pasadena Art Museum and the Fine Arts Community Workshop. She moved to New York City shortly thereafter to continue her career as an artist, and she traveled back and forth between New York City and Los Angeles frequently. In 2016 she received an honorary arts degree from Colorado College. She works in Colorado Springs, Colorado where she lives with her husband, Elliott Fittz. Career Nengudi was part of the radical, avant-garde Black art scenes in both New York City and Los Angeles, during the 1960s and 1970s. Cheryl Banks was another artist who collaborated closely with Nengudi and with whom she corresponded frequently about their work. She worked with two galleries in particular: Pearl C. Woods Gallery in Los Angeles (owned and directed by Greg Pitts), and Just Above Midtown (JAM) in New York City. JAM was owned and directed by Linda Goode Bryant, who influenced Nengudi. She has described the creative energies of working with galleries like these that were, "trying to break down the walls" for