Efimova and Cohn's video blog on one of the most enigmatic works of conceptual feminist art

Alla Efimova and Terri Cohn, in collaboration with the Sonya Rapoport Legacy Trust, present a series of six videos featuring conversations with artists, scholars, and curators about Sonya Rapoport’s Objects on My Dresser (1979-1983 & 2015). The conversations are part of the research for the upcoming book on this enigmatic work of conceptual feminist art.

During a time when Rapoport was mourning her mother’s death, she collaborated with psychologist Winifred De Vos to analyze and interpret the personal significance of 28 objects accumulated on her bedroom dresser. Her complex associations with the souvenirs, trinkets, photos, and other personal items developed into a web of meanings that she externalized into a kind of data-driven self-portrait. Rapoport gathered information about herself as well as participants in interactive, computer-mediated “participation performances,” and then incorporated resulting plots and graphs into intricate drawings and collages.

View full series playlist on YouTube.