Harmony Hammond
Erasure I
2002
Mixed media on archival board
47 1/4 x 35 3/4 inches
http://www.harmonyhammond.com
Alexander Gray Associates, New York
Harmony Hammond, born 1944, lives and works in Northern New Mexico
“Erasures I and II are in response to Hammond’s book Lesbian Art in America: A Contemporary History (Rizzoli, 2000). A handful of lesbian artists did not wish to have their work included. Hammond writes that, ‘While some of their reasons were more understandable than others, in the end, they are all part of the problem. Through their chosen self-erasure, they contribute to the ongoing cultural erasure of lesbian art and artists. I have photocopied their letters to me, crossing out or covering over names, places and other information that might reveal the writer’s identity. The point is not to guess who the letters are from but to underscore the chilling effects of self-erasure, and to presence these artists in their absence. In the Erasure series, the photocopied letters are blown-up larger than life-size and printed on archival board. Some texts are barely visible through a skin of latex rubber, while others are almost entirely buried under tape and blocks of acrylic color, a palimpsest text documenting that which is not said.'”