Tell me there is a lesbian forever...
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Oct2–Nov62021
Curated by Tiona Nekkia McClodden
"1968/1969 is the beginning I’ve chosen. Barbara’s marriage to her husband Clay has ended after a joint trip around the world, building a home together - she realized that that is not the life that she wanted. Barbara buys her own motorcycle, a 1972 BWM R75/5, and proceeds on a trip of her own across the country, into her identity as a lesbian. She goes toward her desires, her sexuality, and the development of her artistic practice. She decides to make herself. She studies herself. She writes herself. She never turns back."
--
"In looking at Barbara’s work during this time, I feel the privilege of being able to re-assess, to arrange and re- position her work through and alongside my own subjectivity. Too often, lesbian identity has been treated as a nostalgic or archaic proposition. As a Black dyke, I refute this stasis. Lesbian identity has always been in flux, changing over time within itself. Barbara’s archive reveals a portrait of a lesbian constantly challenging herself in real time, constantly seeking a way to exist as her full self, unbridled, in a society which has tried to erase her and others many times over."
--
"A letter from a lover reveals a note in the margins, perhaps an afterthought penned just before sending:
Write me that you love me dearly and that you always will.
Tell me there is a lesbian forever."
Selected Works
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/68b83215a72cc9575e2a74f613b16cc6da658272-6720x4404.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
The Lover, off the road (after Barbara),
1972 - 2021
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/1c8453ed68c4c5f7392f404a0ec003b55697042e-4676x3938.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Available Space #2,
1978
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/3facf548ab222d52b5b3023ecd9dd68210c64e12-4015x4768.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Hand Print "Lesbian",
1985
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/792482b386629c2f8f11ee1977a02128e2388bd7-3807x6404.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Conformity Film: to cure aggressive behavior,
1977
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/dae83703ae283dc968314a83ba696153a2faad02-3600x3065.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Corky Wick & Me IV, San Mateo, California, 1979,
2017
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/9de92ade782cd04982c5a91166e3dfdf576e8ae8-4714x3970.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Gloria Churchman,
1976
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/8f6d45470ea03b2a30f2c2f8f0f7d9f1b15876db-4608x3880.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Terry & Barbara Kiss Super Imposed,
1972
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/e7bdbd8ba553fd9002948b66f4912026901e2947-2867x2019.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Double Strength,
1978
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/e53c4208c5bce5fa0cbbb60b88fc0a02d024f0ac-4247x5043.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Untitled,
1970
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/17813ed9601109398fed0609daca59bef7efc349-640x480.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Pools,
1981
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/b7b2d507107c40c781a81582e32ab4b58149b8a9-2880x1800.png?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Sync/Touch,
1981
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/a1a43744ec3d04c8c50cd8538cb040e0ee9386cd-3792x5344.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
End,
1972
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/t26bgxe5/production/cffc7050fe4e5fe5f501ff00935647f29397ac84-5542x4434.jpg?w=1200)
Estate of Barbara Hammer
Haircut,
1978