Lost and Found (2001)

Lost and Found: A Museum of Lesbian Memory (2001)

With Kim Anno

Lost and Found was a 2-year project with artist Kim Anno in collaboration with the GLBT Historical Society. Our goal was to collect, interpret and present lesbian history to mainstream audiences in public institutions such as libraries and community centers. Our focus was on the relatively undocumented communities of working class lesbians and lesbians of color.

We engaged in a process that included archival research, detective work, outreach to people not yet represented in the GLBT archives and meetings with several organizations. Among other activities, we recorded stories, conducted surveys, traced the steps of a map from the first Lesbian conference in 1960, created an artist book called The Lost and Found Companion, interviewed lesbians in their 90’s, collected hair and clothing, and crafted these and other ingredients into the components of 3 exhibitions. The first was in the main gallery at the GLBT Historical Society and the second at the Hormel Center of the San Francisco Public Library main branch. In response to this work, we were invited by the Richmond Health Clinic to work with their community and create an exhibition.

Lost and Found was funded through the fiscal sponsorship of the GLBT Historical Society with grants from The Creative Work Fund, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Astraea Foundation and U.C. Institute for Research in the Arts.