b. 1939 Los Angeles, U.S; d. 2019 New York, U.S

Barbara Hammer was a pioneering American filmmaker whose work transformed the landscape of feminist and queer cinema. Over a prolific career spanning more than 50 years, Hammer created a deeply personal and politically charged body of work that championed lesbian visibility and experimental storytelling. Known as one of the first filmmakers to explicitly explore lesbian identity on screen, she brought radical intimacy, sensuality, and vulnerability to a medium that had long ignored or misrepresented queer lives. Hammer’s films defy easy categorization—merging documentary, abstraction, and performance into meditations on gender, sexuality, aging, illness, and the body. Her work was often handmade and tactile, employing techniques like optical printing, animation, and collage to explore inner worlds and feminist histories. Whether confronting the stigma of AIDS, celebrating female pleasure, or documenting her own cancer diagnosis, Hammer’s films sought to challenge dominant narratives and open space for difference. Hammer was also an educator, activist, and author. Through her exploration of identity and desire, she left a legacy of radical visibility and creative resistance.

Recent solo exhibitions include Barbara Hammer, Champ Lacombe, London (2025); Evidentiary Bodies, The Fralin Museum of Art, Charlottesville (2024); Available Space, Company Gallery, New York (2023); Women I Love, Ratio 3, San Francisco (2022); Tell me there is a lesbian forever…, Company Gallery, New York (2021); Would You Like To Meet Your Neighbor?, KOW, Berlin (2020); Contribution to Light: The Early Works of Barbara Hammer, KOW, Madrid (2018); Truant: Photographs 1970–1979, Company Gallery, New York (2017); Evidentiary Bodies, Leslie-Lohman Museum, New York (2017); and Lesbian Whale: Early Paintings and Drawings, Company Gallery, New York (2015). Recent group shows include Radical Software, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2024); Vital Signs: Artists and the Body, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2024); The Living End: Painting and Other Technologies 1970–2020, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2024); I See No Difference Between a Handshake and a Poem, Mendes Wood DM, Paris (2023); Trust Me, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2023); Queer Love, Lehman College Art Gallery / La MaMa Galleria, New York (2023); Expose-es, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2023); Breathing Amongst Werewolves, Keijsers Koning, Dallas (2022); Happenings, AMP: Art Market Provincetown, MA (2022); Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2019); Don’t Touch Me, Robert Grunenberg Gallery, Berlin (2019); Stonewall 50, Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2019); Multiply, Identify, Her, International Center of Photography, New York (2018); Intuition, Palazzo Fortuny, Venice (2017); Hello Boys, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2016); and Corpus, Zacheta National Art Gallery, Warsaw (2014).

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For Barbara Hammer's entry on Asia Art Archive's website please click here