Leaf from In the Presence of Absence

Harriet Bart’s art explores the personal and cultural expression of loss, commemoration, and the passage of time. In this laser-cut leaf originally produced for an artist’s book, Bart presents one of her own poems—In the Presence of Absence—which addresses themes of loss and absence. The laser-cut “text” is readable only as negative space, a conceptual device that heightens the reader’s awareness of loss. Indeed, like her work in general, the poem is a seamless integration of formal, conceptual, and linguistic elements designed to evoke emotion and personal memories.