Secretary
Contributors: Hersey, Lisa, binder
Publisher: [Maureen Cummins]
Published: 2018
Place of publication: [Bearsville, New York]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 29
Subjects: Artists' books; Women in art; Women; Suicidal behavior; Suicide in art; Spouses in art; Spousal abuse; Family secrets; Portraits; Wives
Other titles: Private
Description: "In Secretary, Cummins deconstructs the life and death-by-suicide of her mother, Dolores Bodkin, an aspiring artist who was forcibly committed in 1963 after attempting to leave her violent and abusive husband. Using language that is factual and at times chilling, the artist plays upon the original meaning of the word secretary--"secret-keeper"--to allude to the secrecy and shame that existed in her household, as well as the cultural silencing of women around the experience of sexualized violence. Cummins uses several layers of information to tell this story: her own memories; excerpts from a diary her mother kept for two years before her suicide; a list of roles that Bodkin embodied, all crossed on her final page; and most dramatic of all--photographs taken by her father that span the period 1956 to 1975."--Prospectus.
Notes: Artist's book.

Limited edition of 35 copies, signed and numbered by the artist.

"Secretary was written, printed, and produced by Maureen Cummins in the winter and spring of 2018, with typographic assistance from Kathleen McMillen."--Colophon.

Rare Book copy: No. 9.

"... bound in the style of a stenographer's notepad by Lisa Hersey in Easthampton, Massachusetts. With special thanks to Swarthmore College and the University of Washington for their support."--Colophon.