The Powder Room
(In Memoriam Elizabeth Sichel)

2012-; Polaroid SX-70 print (PX70 Color Shade film from the Impossible Project), white leather SX70 camera case, text and a pair of vintage white leather gloves. Part of ongoing Four Sisters project.

The SX-70 Polaroid was released in 1972. This instant-developing camera was designed to evade the darkroom and could be easily carried in its matching leather case. Every summer from 1972 onwards, I visited my adored great aunt Lis, a Holocaust survivor from Germany, in New York City, the place of what she called her “exile.: Each picture from those trips shows her wearing the white gloves without which she would never be seen in public. One of Lis’s favorite pastimes was fine dining. No dish could be consumed, however, without first washing our hands in the ladies’ powder room. Lis died from fracture complications relating to severe osteoporosis. As she put it: “My bones are shattering like the powder from a broken compact.”

Exhibited in Ossuary, an installation by Laurie Beth Clark, “Compendium 2012: Art Department Faculty Exhibition,” Chazen Art Museum, Madison, Wisconsin, February 4–April 1, 2012.