HOMAGE TO SAPPHO

Lesbian artists were invisible inside the museum.  There was no wall text identifying sexual preference or difference.  We researched the names of lesbian artists of the past, inscribing them on a path around the museum and on paper slips that were released into the air from a helium-filled balloon.

Homage To Sappho, 1978, was a performance in front of what is now the old Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco directed by me. The impetus was to “put lesbians, lesbian art in the museum and not pussy foot with the project label.” I asked a group of acquaintances to join me on the sidewalk, wear white, and be prepared to be active.

I asked them to write a list of lesbian artist names on the white paper that was laid out on the sidewalk with the intention to circle the museum (didn’t make that goal). We filled up balloons that had the name of a lesbian artist inside with helium and released them over the city. What you see is a large weather balloon but we also, as I remember, used smaller balloons. I have some photos of me posing under the museum sign with black hat and white suit suggesting that I should be in the museum not left on the sidewalk. So it was an inner/outer event.