Lopez creates immersive, large-scale installations from industrial materials and debris like glass, wood, steel rope, and street rubble. Influenced by her own experiences of cultural hybridity, her research-driven work explores cultural phenomena and draws from the aesthetic languages and histories of industrialization, art movements, and the built environment. Lopez’s work has been exhibited at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in Manila, Philippines. Her recognition includes fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 2023, Moore College of Art & Design received a Center grant to present Michelle Lopez: Pandemonium, a multimedia installation that immerses audiences in a contemplation of meteorological and human-created disasters. She is an associate professor of sculpture and installation at the University of Pennsylvania. Lopez earned an MFA in painting and sculpture from the School of Visual Arts and a BA in literature and art history from Barnard College.
