After the Funeral Documentary
After the Funeral, 1992
Steve Hart (b. 1962)
Photograph, gelatin silver print
Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Gift of the artist) (CGA.1995.62.1)
This photograph of a father and daughter shows the complexities of love and grief. Rosa knows only her family’s love. She loves her father, Ralph, who kisses her through car windows. Rosa doesn’t know how her nation feels about her family’s health. She only knows Ralph fills the absence of her mother, Sensa, after Sensa’s AIDS-related-death. After Sensa’s funeral, this moment captures the cost of the country’s priorities.
Curators: Itayecxi Alvarez and Jack Seufert
Written in 1891, Walt Whitman’s poem Grand Is the Seen was included in the final edition of Leaves of Grass, published during his lifetime. In 1974, the poem was used by Herbert Sanborn Sr. for his lithograph, Hommage to Walt Whitman.
This recording features Grand Is the Seen, read by Donald Ritzenhein.
Full documentary: