Home Exhibition Virtual TourBetye Saar, "The Long Memory"

Betye Saar, "The Long Memory"

Transcript of this podcast

The Long Memory by Betye Saar is an eighteen-color screenprint on wove paper, and was produced in an edition of 100. A wash red wood-like frame starts it all, then, within it, a black mat appears displaying a similar thickness than the outside frame. The mat frames another smaller red washed wooden frame, with one leafy patterned embellished in x corner.

Like a mise en abyme, or « a frame within a frame, » within a frame narrows down the attention to the center, only to deliver a central focus on two distinct elements, piled on top of each other. First a shiny silver compact mirror thrones over the top view of a sculpted black hand, displaying a red cuff with a yellow ornament on its cut out wrist. The hand nails are painted with a bright red nail polish, re- directing the eye to a compact mirror, placed right above. The hand, rounded on the edges, resembles a polished carved wood, giving it a trompe l’oeil effect. This enigmatic print is quintessential of Saar’s practice: the use of symbols like the hands, the eye, the circle is telling of the artist's language. Here she depicts a world of beliefs that follow an esoteric sense of the self, probing a one on one conversation with the visitor, almost like the enigmatic vitrine to a psychic window.

Originally from Steven Scott Gallery in Baltimore, The Long Memory was acquired through an exchange of works: Faith Ringgold's Mama Can Sing, commissioned by the Center, was exchanged for Saar's work, which provides additional ties to their respective stories with the DCDC.