Hauser & Wirth

Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Kellie Jones & Ingrid Schaffner on ‘Destiny Is a Rose’

The event marked the launch of “Destiny Is a Rose,” a catalog and exhibition that brings together 83 artists and more than 100 works from the five‑decade‑long Eileen Harris Norton collection, coinciding with Freeze Week at Hower and North Los Angeles. Panelists—Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Kellie Jones and curator Ingrid Schaffner—emphasized Norton’s distinctive collecting philosophy: she prioritized long‑term network support over market speculation, funding emerging artists, curators, and institutions. Her patronage enabled landmark shows such as the 1994 “Black Male” exhibition at the Whitney and a 1997 Johannesburg biennial trip that brought ten curators and several South African artists into the U.S. collection. Simmons recalled meeting Norton in the late ’80s as a “collector who wasn’t after commodity,” while Simpson highlighted Norton’s “awareness of black intellectual networks.” A vivid anecdote described Thelma Golden’s near‑violent rap‑show encounter that sparked the urgency of the “Black Male” project, and Lorna’s impromptu photograph under an arch in South Africa became a visual hallmark of the trip. The conversation underscores how a single collector can act as a cultural catalyst, shaping exhibition histories, expanding global artistic exchange, and reinforcing the importance of sustained, relationship‑based patronage for under‑represented voices in contemporary art.