Michele Pred


Michele Pred is a Swedish-American conceptual artist whose practice includes sculpture, assemblage, and performance. Her work uncovers the cultural and political meaning behind everyday objects with a particular focus on themes like equal pay, reproductive rights, and personal security. Her projects also contain social components that drive the conversation into public spaces. Examples include her exploration of the intersection of personal space and security using airport confiscated items after 9/11, the cultural background of the fight for reproductive rights using thousands of expired birth control pills and the continuing economic and political struggle for women's rights represented by her modified vintage handbag editions.

Biography

Pred was born in San Francisco. She grew up in Berkeley, where her father, Allan Pred was a professor of geography at the University of California, and in Stockholm. She attended California College of the Arts in Oakland in the 1990s and graduated with distinction in Interdisciplinary Arts. Pred resides in both Oakland and Stockholm with her spouse, Scott and daughter, Linnea.

Career

Vote Feminist, Pred's fall 2018 solo show at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, foregrounded political issues of voting, pay inequity based on gender and race, and gun violence.
During Miami Art Week in November 2017, Pred organized a . Pred curated artists to participate from all over the United States including Pussy Hat creator Krista Suh.
For "Equal Pay Day" on April 4, 2017 Pred handed out precisely cut dollar bills to "reflect the pay percentages paid to women based on their race." Pred performed her art work for an hour on Market street in San Francisco to spread word about the gender pay gap.
April 14, 2017 Amy Schumer included Pred's limited edition "Pro Choice" handbag in her "19 Things Amy Schumer Really Loves" interview with InStyle. The interview was featured in the
.
April 1, 2017 Pred performed a piece at Project for Empty Space in Newark, New Jersey. Pred gave out one dollar bills which were cut precisely and stamped to indicate the differences between what women of various racial backgrounds earns compared to the wages earned by white men doing the same work. See more about this project at
Feb, 1, 2017 Amy Schumer posted a video of herself with Pred's purse and it received over one million views on Instagram.
January, 20-21, 2017 Pred marched on Washington, DC carrying a modified police riot shield with the slogan in pink. The shield and slogan reference the right of every woman to autonomy over her own body and actions in addition to the protection of health services and care that enables women to make informed choices and decisions regarding preventative healthcare as well as family planning tools.
In October, 2016 Pred, dressed as a 1960s era stewardess handed out pocket knives in the San Francisco International Airport's baggage terminal to commemorate the 15th anniversary of September 11 and the passage of the Patriot Act.
In 2016 Pred created a series of T-shirt designs promoting women's reproductive freedom. Her work is in the permanent collection at the 9/11 Memorial Museum in New York.
Pred created an art series as a response to Supreme Court decisions limiting access to abortion and contraceptives for women.
In 2007 she created an exhibit featuring items confiscated at airports for security reasons.
Pred was an Adjunct Professor at California College of the Arts from 2007 to 2015.

Collaborations & Public Projects

Pred is a member of , the first artist-run Super PAC founded by artists Eric Gottesman and Hank Willis Thomas. She has participated in several projects with the organization including an exhibition at in New York, and her project #HerBodyHerVote at Expo Chicago, 2016 , and an electronic billboard "My Body My Business" by the San Mateo Bridge in the San Francisco Bay Area.