Optic Nerve

“BARBARA HAMMER’s Optic Nerve is a powerful personal reflection on family and ageing. Hammer employs filmed footage which, through optical printing and editing is layered and manipulated to create a compelling meditation on her visit to her grandmother in a nursing home. The sense of sight becomes a constantly evolving process of reseeing images retrieved from the past and fused into the eternal present of the projected image. Hammer has lent a new voice to the long tradition of personal meditation in the avant garde of the American independent cinema.” – John Harnhardt, 1987 Whitney Museum Biennial Exhibition Catalogue (Sound Composition: Helen Thorington)