One of four new films from Art21’s spring 2021 programming

Recalling her formative years as an artist in the 1960s and 1970s, Lynn Hershman Leeson recounts the suppression of her literal and figurative voice that continues to motivate her work today. Shown at work in her San Francisco, California studio, Hershman Leeson describes her drawing practice as a meditation and a basic language that plays a role in all her projects. “It’s all about collaging,” says the artist of her work.

In 1965, Hershman Leeson suffered a near-fatal complication during her pregnancy. The experience inspired her to record and incorporate audio of her breath into wax sculptures cast from her own face. “To me, it was like a drawing,” explains Hershman Leeson. “It was sound that extended into space.”

When the wax sculptures were exhibited in the 1970s, they were denounced by an exhibiting museum for “not being art.” Indicative of the struggles of many female artists at the time, this rejection by the museum system ultimately fueled Hershman Leeson and shaped her work. “The cultural experience of having your voice suppressed has made speech and talking and having a voice really important in what I do,” states the artist. “A lot of what I do as being an artist is creating a voice for myself because I didn’t have one for so long.”

This film is among a collection that comprise Art21’s participation in the multi-institutional Feminist Art Coalition initiative. Feminist Art Coalition (FAC) is a platform for art projects informed by feminisms, fostering collaborations between arts institutions that aim to make public their commitment to social justice and structural change.