Zoe Leonard, Artist

Zoe Leonard’s Strange Fruit (1992–97) consists of some three hundred fruit skins – bananas, oranges, grapefruits, and lemons – consumed, then stitched back together by the artist with brightly coloured thread and wire. The work was made in the 1990s, during the global AIDS crisis that devastated communities in New York, where Leonard was living and working.

By sewing up wasted peels instead of discarding them, the artist created objects that resemble little bodies FIG. 2. At a time in which her dying friends were treated as disposable by most of the public, the government and the medical community, the task may have offered a defiant respite. Leonard described sewing as a sort of meditation, a private act of mourning.

Above images and text from Burlington Contemporary:

https://contemporary.burlington.org.uk/journal/journal/intent-in-the-making-the-life-of-zoe-leonards-strange-fruit

and Seven Ponds

https://blog.sevenponds.com/soulful-expressions/strange-fruit-for-david-by-zoe-leonard-breathes-new-life-into-death