William Pope.L

William Pope.L addresses racism, classism, and other sociopolitical ills through provocative performance art, theater, painting, and photography. He’s best known for his eRacism crawl series, which began in the late 1970s. In one such “crawl,” The Great American Way, he wore a Superman suit and strapped a skateboard onto his back and crawled 22 miles up New York City’s Broadway; it took five years to complete.

In 2005, Pope.L created an interactive installation that traveled from Maine to Missouri called The Black Factory. Participants were encouraged to bring any artifacts that are considered 'black'—hair picks, James Brown LPs, etc.—and the performance troupe called the Factory Workers would simulate a “conversion” of the products.