Visible & Present

, with its clear lesbian identities and motifs, is political. It is a meditation on visibility, on making present what is often absent. American poet Mary Ruefle uses various methods to explore ‘presence and absence’. Reviewer Jennifer H. Fortin says of Ruefle’s language that ‘what’s noticed draws forth what’s absent. The previously absent is now present, as real as any other reality.’ These words could be applied to Making visible, ‘coming out’, has been an effective strategy in lesbian/gay liberation, but, in the art world, lesbians are frequently invisible. In 1996, Cherry Smyth recorded that it was not until 1977 that an article ‘Lesbian Art and Artists’ was published (in US feminist journal ) and not until 1980 that the was held (at The Women’s Building in Los Angeles, California).