This collection of writings by Jean Fisher traces the author’s journey through the political and intellectual turbulence of the past 20 years and its impact on both artistic practice and the writing of art.

Through her close study of Anglo/Irish and US/Native American colonial and contemporary relations, Fisher explores the effectiveness of artistic practice in the construction of political and subjective agency.

Each essay in the first part of the book maps a possible terrain for approaching the work of a single artist – among them, James Coleman, Jimmie Durham, Susan Hiller, Gabriel Orozco and Adrian Piper – while the texts in the second part reflect upon artistic practice in relation to questions of subjectivity, postcoloniality and multiculturalism.

Jean Fisher’s interdisciplinary approach to writing provides rich insights into the relationship between visual art and theory and has been highly influential to a generation of international scholars, artists and curators.

Matt’s Gallery is a custodian of the archive of the late Jean Fisher. Following her passing in 2016, the Gallery became joint custodian, alongside Fisher’s son Tony and curator Catherine de Zegher, of the archive which has been held at Matt’s Gallery since 2018. Comprising 10 boxes of manuscripts, lecture notes, slides and other ephemera, we have been working to activate it.

In May 2022 a monthly reading group led by Michelle Williams Gamaker began, drawing on material held in Jean’s archive.