Ann Hirsch
at Smart Objects

Ann Hirsch, CURSED (2019) (installation view). Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, CURSED (2019) (installation view). Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, In the tube: A table of blood, death, sex, medical expertise, anxiety, and despair (2019) (detail). Test tubes, test tube holders, petri dishes, fake blood, fake cum, Vaseline, pipettes, hair, and printer printing the artist’s medical records for the past four years. Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, A summary of a year of medical research (2019) (detail). Dry erase marker, paper print outs, and magnets on dry erase board. Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, CURSED (2019) (installation view). Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, Janus Annie, Janus Genie, Janus Annie and Genie. In the artist’s first vision she had at the sea, she asked the ocean gods to show her who her spirit guide is. She sat for an hour with her eyes closed and allowed the waves to put her into a trance like state. All of a sudden she saw a bright light and felt a very warm presence that made her cry. And the name “Janice” popped into her head. Surprised, she said to herself “Janice??” and felt confused. As she was telling her husband Gene about this experience he said, what if the name was “Janus” and not “Janice”? She immediately knew he was right. Janus is the god of transitions, beginnings, endings, and time. Recently, the artist made an offering to Janus in which she gave 12 different fruits, nuts and seeds to him, one for every month of the year, in hoping he would grant her a fruitful year. (2019) (detail). 3D printed heads on polylactic acid, 8 x 6 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.

Ann Hirsch, Ann Hirsch, Imagery of devotion to the Matronae. The Matronae are a goddess collective consciousness. They were worshiped for hundreds of years at the beginning of the new millennium in every place the Roman empire occupied at that time. There is no writing about them, we are only aware of their existence from temple and objects that had inscriptions for them, found in places as south as Syria all the way up to the Netherlands. Historians believe they were of Celtic or Gaulish origin and became adopted by much of the early Roman empire when it spread north. Depictions of the Matronae are generally represented by three women, two wearing headdresses. They hold fruit baskets and are depicted commonly with snakes, trees, children, and diapers. They often bear inscriptions that detail what specifically the Matronae are capable of doing and thanking them for granting them the creators wish. They are always shown in threes but because there are an infinite amount and the number three represents that eternity. By the summer of 2018, the Matronae began appearing in the artist’s life in ways she did not then understand. By January of 2019 the Matronae made it known to a spirit worker that they would make a deal with the artist, that if she devoted herself to them for a full year, they would help her heal. The artist accepted the deal and has become a faithful devotee to this collective consciousness that she believes has power and will over everything. One stipulation in her devotion was that her altar to them needed to have imagery of the Matronae. So she made many depictions of them. These are some examples. (2019) (detail). Color pencil, graphite, glitter glue, 3D paint, cut paper, dry erase marker, and magnetic letters on paper and dry erase board. Image courtesy of the artist and Smart Objects.