Her artwork has explored themes of the body, gender, sex and feminism for over 20 years. Over the past three years, her work has evolved organically into an exploration of ecology through sexuality. Stephens’ artistic field envisions art that is not only designed to contribute to visual culture through the production of images, objects and conceptual artefacts, but also to help imagine and generate vital, loving/sexual and diverse environments that nurture the life forms that live in and around them. This is why embracing environmentalist art at this stage of her career seems the most coherent thing to do.
The challenges of environmental art are closely linked to those of social justice. And Stephens’ work has always been linked to social movements in one way or another and by engaging with the field of sexuality, art and ecology many opportunities have opened up for her work, indicating that work such as hers comes at an opportune and necessary time.
Stephens has collaborated on a number of projects over the years and finds collaboration a very natural and stimulating way of working. Most of her work over the last seven years has been in collaboration with her partner Annie Sprinkle, through the Love Art Laboratory, their wedding-performance and the theatrical show Dirty Sexecology.
She is also heavily involved in the environmental project RAN (Rainforest Action Network), which tries to prevent a widespread mining practice in the United States that consists of removing the tops of mountains to make it easier to reach the minerals inside them. She has undertaken actions especially in West Virginia and the Appalachian Mountains, where one of her last weddings took place, always taking the opportunity to denounce some injustice being committed against the environment.
She is currently Professor of Performance, Installation and Sculpture in the Department of Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
