Laura Kraning 'Language of Memory' to Screen at the National Gallery of Art

DMS proffesor Laura Kraning’s short film “Language of Memory” will be screening on Saturday May 4 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the NGA exhibition “Woven Histories: Textiles and Modern Abstraction.”

Short Film Program: Woven Histories

Saturday, May 4, 2024, 2:00 p.m.

Through original documentary and experimental strands, this eclectic program of short films explores the labor and politics of textile production, clothing, and identity through contemporary media art. Titles include Language of Memory (Laura Kraning); Following the Thread (Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra); Curse Cures (Lesley Loksi Chan); and Elsewhere (Cauleen Smith). 

"Language of Memory" is a hand-processed, optically printed film composed of rayographs of my grandmother’s still negatives from the early 1900s, strips of her old lace casting abstract patterns on high contrast film, and the overlapping gestures of sewing and splicing film, related techniques historically attributed to women. It is both homage to my grandmother’s creative influence and a deconstruction of memory through fragmentation and the accretion of associations surfacing from the tactile processes of the film’s making.” - L.K.