12 Images by Barbara Hammer Show Art as a Matter of Life and Death

June 1-August 11, 2019, the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University debuts "Barbara Hammer: In This Body". Organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts and curated by Jennifer Lange, curator of the center's Film/Video Studio, the exhibition is a reflection of the decades-long relationship between the institution and the pioneering experimental filmmaker, recipient of a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award for 2017-18 in Film/Video.

In a career spanning over 50 years, Hammer has been best known for daring depictions of lesbian life and sexuality. Barbara Hammer: In This Body continues her ongoing interest in the female body and captures the full scope of her interdisciplinary practice, with a strong focus on the challenging subjects of illness and mortality. It foregrounds the physical, tactile nature of her work, illuminating the ways in which art can create an empathic, collective experience.

"Barbara is a force. Her creative expression is fueled by personal experiences that have ranged over her career from the exuberance of lesbian sexuality to the realities of aging, illness, and dying," says Lange. "These coordinated projects, including the exhibition, film screenings, and her residency work, highlight Hammer's multidisciplinary approach, as well as her intrepid nature and spirit of experimentation, qualities that are central to the Wex's mission."

The show is all the more poignant in that Barbara died this last March 2019. At that time the Wexner Center posted on social media: "Barbara Hammer was a pioneer and a true force of nature. Her honesty and creativity were a gift to the world and we're saddened by her loss. We join her many friends in celebrating Barbara's intrepid spirit and our deepest sympathies are with her partner, Florrie."

[ Related content: Pioneering Lesbian Filmmaker Barbara Hammer Has Died at 79 ]

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