AWAW Visit

Summer, or Grief,1998/2025 by Mary Lucier

Description of the above image

(Unrelated) I have no clue what this is, but it is one of the coolest things I've ever seen

During my trip to the Anonymous Was A Woman: The First 25 Years at the Grey Art Museum, right out of the gate, I was intrigued by the many interesting pieces of art that each had their distinct message and a few shared themes. Upon walking through the first art piece that captured my attention was "Untitled" by Senga Nengudi, which was created using pantyhose, interestingly enough. After circling the entire exhibit, I started to identify a certain theme, and after watching through the entirety of my chosen art piece, I found those themes to be Nature, Humanity, and Death/Bones. Almost every piece in the exhibit had a human trait to it, whether it was a woman swimming or clothes, and in some cases, animals such as cats and peacocks. The many bones reflect life and death and the balance between them. I think all these themes are highlighted best by my art piece of choice, "Summer, or Grief",1998/2025 by Mary Lucier, which, unlike any other exhibit, took the form of a video playing on a simple TV. Right off the bat, this one exhibits changes in the experience for everyone walking into the museum as the apnosphere is created from the sounds played through the speakers of this video, visitors would explore many, while the sound of birds chirping and grass crunching instills a sense of adventure and intrigue. The video itself lasts for around 5 minutes, showing images of nature, animals, bones, and people, much like the other exhibits. The images on the screen were periodically broken up by bold words on a black screen, with a few notable words being "Mothers", "Age", "Shores", and "wastes" along with terms such as "higher than the stars" and "its springs".

On my first watch of the video, the most shocking part is how grim some of the imagery is, with the cat skull being the most notable example of this. The description for the exhibit Luciers' vision of something "simple yet beautiful," along with the grim words, which I learned are from Allen Grossman and his poem "The Conversation," and its somber mood.

In conclusion, I believe that Summer, or Grief, is the absolute focal point of this exhibit, and even without ever laying eyes on the video or its message, Lucier's art will still leave an impression on all visitors of the Anonymous Was A Woman: The First 25 Years at the Grey Art Museum. (The Peacock was also super cool, I posted it on my Instagram and got a lot of likes.)

Julian F.