In conjunction with the exhibition, The Met will host a talk with artist Sadie Barnette on January 13
(New York, January 12, 2024)—At a time when photographs are primarily shared and saved digitally, many artists are turning to snapshots in albums or pictures in archives as a source of inspiration. On view through September 15, 2024, the exhibition Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother—the title is drawn from a photograph by Italian provocateur Maurizio Cattelan (born 1960)—consists of works in The Met collection from the 1970s to today that inspire reflection on the power of found objects and the complicated feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality they can conjure. These works by 14 artists range from intimate meditations on the family to considerations of broader sociological issues, and reveal the power of tactile images in the construction of history and memory.
The exhibition is made possible by Joyce Frank Menschel.
Among the featured artists is Sadie Barnette (American, born 1986), for whom photographs open a portal to forgotten histories—in this case, the first Black-owned gay bar in San Francisco and her father’s life. The newly acquired multimedia Photo Bar (2022) acts as an altar to The New Eagle Creek Saloon, which was operated by her father from 1990 to 1993. Located in the heart of the city, it served a multiracial queer community as a space of gathering and resistance amid the pain and loss of the AIDS epidemic. The assembled photographs, given to the artist by friends of her father, show moments of celebration and regulars at the bar. They resemble snapshots that might have been tacked to the space’s walls. Enlivened by a neon embrace and embodying the bar’s original slogan, “A friendly place, with a funky bass, for every race,” Photo Bar reclaims Barnette’s family legacy, highlights an unwritten LGBTQIA+ history, and encourages the unearthing and illumination of other forgotten stories.
Like Barnette, many of the artists in the exhibition seek to fortify family legacies, emphasize intergenerational relationships, and illuminate and complicate the past. Some artists, such as Sophie Calle (French, born 1953), Ilene Segalove (American, born 1950), and Larry Sultan (American, 1946–2009), explore their own narratives to reveal the construction of desire, while others including Taryn Simon (American, born 1975) and Stephanie Syjuco (American, born 1977) examine histories that have shaped cultural and political dialogue. In a series that examines media representations of Black Americans, Hank Willis Thomas (American, born 1977), for example, points to the ways in which corporations have utilized these visual dynamics to construct and strengthen stereotypes. For many, including Darrel Ellis (American, 1958–1992) who turned to his father’s snapshots to negotiate the trauma of police violence, the personal is political.
Displaying a range of methods and strategies, these artworks reveal how a tactile images—much like a talisman or an altarpiece—can forge links across time and transform our understanding of the present.
Don’t Forget to Call Your Mother is organized by Lisa Sutcliffe, Curator in the Department of Photographs at The Met.
Programming will include insightful gallery talks with museum experts, as well as talks with several artists featured in the exhibition including Sadie Barnette on January 13, 2024.
The exhibition is featured on The Met’s website as well as on social media.
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January 12, 2024
Contact:
Communications@metmuseum.org
Image: Sadie Barnette, Photo Bar, 2022. Inkjet print with rhinestones in arched frame, neon, plywood, holographic vinyl upholstery, glitter, plexiglass, glass crystals, 8-track player, and vintage headphones. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Alfred Stieglitz Society Gifts and Anne Levy Charitable Trust Gift, 2023 (2023.360a–g) © Sadie Barnette. Photo: Phillip Maisel
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