Sligh, Clarissa. Clarissa Sligh: The Presence of Memory. March 10 - May 25, 1991.

Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery No. 24, Syracuse University, 1991. Introduction by Jeffrey Hoone. Includes biographical information on the African American photographer. Wraps, 20 pages, illustrated in color, fine.  

Clarissa Sligh (born 1939) is an acclaimed African American multidisciplinary artist, photographer, and book artist whose narrative-driven work explores themes of race, gender, identity, memory, and social justice. Born in Washington, D.C., Sligh originally worked as a math analyst for NASA and later in business before pivoting to fine art in her late thirties, earning degrees from Hampton University, Howard University, and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Her early personal history deeply informs her practice; at age 15, she was named the lead plaintiff in a landmark 1955 school desegregation suit in Virginia, an experience that ignited her lifelong commitment to political activism through visual art. Sligh frequently combines vintage family photographs, cyanotypes, screenprints, text, and archival documents into poignant artist books, installations, and photo-text series—such as What's Happening with Momma? (1988) and Wrongly Accused (1993)—that challenge conventional narratives of African American domestic and social life. A co-founder of Coast-to-Coast National Women Artists’ Color Network, Sligh has received numerous accolades, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts, with her works held in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the National Gallery of Art.

Published in 1991 by the Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery at Syracuse University, this 22-page softcover catalog documented a solo exhibition of works by acclaimed African American conceptual artist, photographer, and storyteller Clarissa Sligh. The exhibition ran from March 10 through May 25, 1991, and was issued as Number 24 in the prominent Robert B. Menschel Photography Gallery series, supported by the university's photography organization, Light Work.

Core Themes and Artistic Approach

The exhibition and its accompanying volume highlighted Sligh’s signature practice of blending personal biography with broader political and social history.

• The Reframing of Memory: True to its title, the collection examined how personal and cultural memory is preserved, distorted, or erased. Sligh heavily utilized her own family photo albums as foundational material, altering and layering the snapshots to challenge mainstream perceptions of historical normality.

• Text and Image Integration: Rather than presenting unmediated photographs, Sligh combined imagery with handwritten text, diary entries, and prose. This multi-layered approach was used to give a voice to alternative narratives—specifically confronting themes of systemic racism, gender roles, family dynamics, and growing up Black in America.

• Structural Context: The imagery featured in the exhibition heavily referenced the visual language of childhood readers to critique social conditioning and contrast those idealized mid-century frameworks with her lived experiences.

Catalog Specifications & Contents

• Visual Presentation: The square octavo volume includes 16 full-page and one double-page reproduction of Sligh’s photographic and mixed-media works.

• Critical Text: The catalog features a central analytical text written by Jeffrey Hoone (then-Director of Light Work), which contextualized Sligh's innovative storytelling techniques and her profound impact on the fields of contemporary photography and artists' books.