The Lady Vanishes

In The Lady Vanishes, I reveal the lives of women whose historical contributions were significant, but due to their proximity to a male genius, have been erased.

            Each portrait explores the possibility of remembering through performative reenactment.  By re-performing the portrait sitting, I was able to invite another person into the conversation about these forgotten women.  Together, the sitter and I re-membered a women's history that has been dis-membered. The women shown here, Mileva Maric (Einstein), worked beside their husbands, but are left out of history books and consequently out of the popular imagination.

 Each reenacted portrait has been reproduced with a large-scale photocopier.  This approach references both activist art and didactic materials, and draws our attention to the construction of historical documents.

By remembering these women, I hope to start a larger conversation about cultural amnesia.