Nick Cave is a contemporary African-American artist and dancer known for his unique fabric sculptures and performances. His Soundsuits are bright and surreal costumes made from beads, sequins, twigs, and wire. The suits are meant to empower the person wearing them through concealing their race and gender. Cave initially began making them in reaction to the police beating of Rodney King in 1992. “I am an artist with a civic responsibility. I [am invigorated] by dealing with these really hard issues around race and gun violence,” Cave has explained. Born on February 4, 1959 in Fulton, MO, he studied fiber arts at the Kansas City Art Institute before going on to receive his MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1989. After finishing school, the artist became the director of the fashion program at the School of the Art Institute Chicago. Inspired by artist’s such as Barkley L. Hendricks and Faith Ringgold, Cave has continued to address issues of racial inequality in the United States. He lives and works in Chicago, IL. Today, the artist’s works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, among others.