Skip to main content
Browse by:
GROUP

Duke Clinics Exhibit: Post Memory - Photographs by Heather Lewis

Detail from SHE Couldn't Recognize My Face by Heather Lewis
Thursday, March 21, 2019
All Day
Heather Lewis
Arts & Health Exhibit Series

Arts & Health at Duke presents
Post Memory - Photographs by Heather Lewis
March 21 - May 15, 2019

Morrison Exhibit Space,
Near Clinic 1D,
Duke Clinics Building

Heather Lewis uses the Welsh word hiraeth, meaning the yearning for lost places of her past, to describe her practice of photographing herself in settings that evoke reminders of the past and emotional connections of her own family history. Like works by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Ken Rosenthal, and Nancy Rexroth, Lewis's photographs, which often are displayed in an album form, give the false impression of her insertion in a specific family memory. Interested in re-creation of dreams and stories, Lewis conveys a sense of longing and nostalgia of her past and people long gone.

Growing up without the majority of her paternal family members, Lewis found articulating fleeting memories of them out of the realm of her vocabulary. Looking towards negatives of these long gone relatives, Lewis found the images resonated in the identity she was trying to find. She could visualize herself in this family, in their family album. Instead of limiting her memory, she created a new narrative, one where she is an integral part of her paternal family.

Purchases of photographs on display can be purchased by cash or check. Please contact Jennifer Collins-Mancour for further information.
Call 919-684-6124 or email, jennifer.collins3@duke.edu